Infinite Avengers Vol 1: Assemble
by InfiniteUniverse10
Summary: Volume One in the Infinite Marvel Universe's Avengers epic! December 21, 2012. A day everyone will remember. The start of the apocalypse brought on by the Mad Titan, Thanos! Earth's Mightiest Heroes were unable to stop it, but can they possibly come together to Avenge the planet? "We might not be able to save the Earth, but you can be damn well sure we'll avenge it."
1. And There Came A Day Unlike Any Other

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE CHARACTERS IN THIS WORK!**

**Note: Yeah, this was supposed to come much later but well…I just got too excited to do this so here it is. I know I haven't even started Agents of SHIELD or Hulk or Thor but they will come…soon. Or I might do origin arcs for them. This is going to be a HUGE project where every arc is like a Marvel event and features many of the superheroes in the Infinite Marvel Universe. The roster will be ever changing so even in just an issue it could change, so always expect change…and this will probably be the slowest thing to come out just because it is so huge.**

**Cover- Thanos grinning evilly, holding his fist up which is covered in the Infinity Gauntlet.**

**INFINITE AVENGERS**

**Day 1: And There Came A Day Unlike Any Other…**

_The Mayans were right, the Apocalypse began on December 21, 2012. It took a total of five days for the Earth to be destroyed._

_I don't know how the Mayans predicted it…maybe they did just run out of space on a rock. But they were right…_

_This is how the World ended._

_This is how the Avengers were born._

**December 21, 2012, About 6 AM Eastern Earth Time**

**Xandar, the Home of the Nova Corps**

The entire planet was ravaged, literally falling apart. Two figures stood facing each other.

The first looked more monster than human with gray-purple skin and a gigantic physique, easily eight feet tall. The monster-man wore blue and gold robes with black boots and a black hood covered most of the monster-man's face. A single golden gauntlet was attached to his hand; two gems glowed brightly on the knuckles of the index and pinky finger of the gauntlet. The index finger gem was bright yellow and the pinky finger gem glowed a shimmering orange.

The other looked exactly like a human, but it was hard to tell because he wore a full body suit and a helmet that covered most of his head. He wore the traditional suit of a Nova Centurion Prime. The suit was golden and navy; three gold circles were in an upside-down triangle formation (the top two did not connect) on the chest area of the suit. The helmet shined gold and a red star was exactly in-between where human eyebrows are. A single purple gem was melded into his hand.

Suddenly, the monstrous man sped forward and grabbed the Nova Prime by the neck.

"Now, Rhomann Dey, tell me where the others are!" The monster commanded while only gentling strangling the man.

"To think…that the traitor was you, Thanos," Rhomann Dey gasped for breath, "You were my friend."

"Answer my question you…you…" The monster-man sighed, "…my old friend, please tell me where they are. We are still friends. As long as you hand over the Space Gem and tell me where the others are, I will let you live. Rhomann, please," Thanos looked into the Nova Prime's kind eyes. He wasn't lying. Thanos still thought of Rhomann Dey as his best friend. He was the only person who had never treated The Titan badly for his malformed appearance.

"Why did you do it? Why did you kill her? Why are you doing any of this? And how did you find her?" Rhomann still avoided Thanos' question.

Thanos looked to the ground, anger starting to arise, "You know why I did it. I did it for **her**. For Death. I plan on giving her the most wonderful gift anyone has given her: the annihilation of the majority of the Universe's inhabitants. The remaining few will be our slaves… or trusted advisors. Please, Rhomann, help me assemble The Gauntlet. Help me earn her love," Thanos looked up from the ground, forcing his anger to subside…for now.

"You killed Gamora, a hero, warrior, and savior, for Death? You wiped out all life on fifteen planets, including the entirety of the Universe's peace-keepers: The Nova Corps, for her? Thanos, dear friend, how do you expect me to help you? You abandoned your comrades, friends and family for something as terrible - but necessary - as Death…"

Thanos couldn't hide his anger any longer, "Death is better than you or anyone in the Universe! You are the Head of the Infinity Watch, so you are the one person in the entire Universe who knows the names and faces of the entire Watch! Tell me where the other three are! This is your last opportunity: help me or die!"

Thanos gripped Rhomann's neck to the point it almost broke. Rhomann had to rely on his suit's life support capabilities to keep him from falling unconscious.

"Before I decide, tell me this. How did you know where Gamora was? How did you know who she was?" The head of the Nova Corps mumbled.

Thanos seethed, "Gamora…she was easy to find. That day we visited the planet of Sakaar, in order to put a stop to the alien slave trade, we came across her, an ex-gladiator-slave, who had also been attempting to free the planet. You introduced me to her. It only took getting to know her...personally to discover her secret. And it only took a simple assassination to end her and take the Time Gem."

"Poor Gamora," Rhomann heaved, "I'm sorry, old friend, but I've not been entirely honest with you…"

"What?" Thanos replied incredulously, "What are you talking about?"

"I'm not the leader of The Infinity Watch. I was entrusted with hiding the true leader's identity and only knew of both your identity because of how loudly you proclaimed what you were. Whenever you visited a planet you demanded to be treated like a king because of your being a part of The Watch. Most of the Universe knows who you are."

"How…you…why…?" Thanos struggled to find the right words, "You must still know who the leader is. After all, you were entrusted with hiding its identity," He loosened his grip on Rhomann's neck just enough for Rhomann to finally be able to focus.

"I'm sorry, but first and foremost I am neither your friend not a simple man. I am leader of the Nova Corps and member of the Infinity Watch and it is my job and purpose to stop you from destroying yourself and the Universe!" Nova blasted Thanos with golden energy. Rhomann knew that it would only stun Thanos for a second but that was all he needed.

"Worldmind, initiate lightspeed. Set course for the home of Adam Warlock on the planet Earth."

He blasted off in a burst of golden light.

Thanos regained focus in a matter of seconds but when he opened his eyes Rhomann was gone.

He smashed the ground, "AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHH!"

"Do not fret, my love," Thanos suddenly heard a deep, dark and chilling whisper. It was clearly feminine.

"Death...is that you?" Thanos asked, suddenly very aware of his surroundings.

A shadowy hooded figure of a woman appeared before Thanos, "Indeed."

"Oh, my lady, my love…" Thanos tried to embrace the shadowy figure but fell right through it, "Wha-?"

"I am just a projection. You will not get to see or touch my real form until you give me what you've promised…" Death stated cruelly.

"Yes, my love, I will…I will track Rhomann Dey and rip the truth of the other Watchmen out of his corpse!" Thanos declared.

Death smiled "Good...You will be a good king..."

The compliment made Thanos swell with pride.

"I will go at once," Thanos marched off, pulling out a slim silver device from his pocket as he did. He slid his finger over it and whispered the words, "Nova Prime," to it. Suddenly a hologram appeared with coordinates of where the Nova Prime currently was and where he was heading.

"Earth…interesting…"

And Thanos clenched his fist and muttered, "I will get there before he does and track the energy signatures of the other gems to find their owners…"

Thanos continued to his ship, and ordered his ship's computer, "Activate a Worm Hole to Earth. Proceed immediately…"

**Times Square, New York, 6:30 AM**

Explosions burst high above Times Square in New York City.

Iron Man sped through the sky followed by his partner, War Machine. Trailing just behind them was the Crimson Dynamo, who was unleashing every missile, projectile, bullet, energy thingy and…well, you get the point…every weapon in his arsenal, at the two.

"You will die, Stark! And so will your stupid sidekick!" The Russian man, Anton Vanko screamed through the speakers in his armor.

"Yeah, the whole 'you will die, Stark' gets old. Can you supervillains ever come up with any new lines or threats? Seriously? I mean, c'mon the…" Anthony "Tony" Stark was interrupted by a missile connecting with the back of his armor.

An explosion enveloped him and James "Rhodey" Rhodes screamed, "No!"

Suddenly, Iron Man burst from the smoke, not a single dent in his armor, "You really think a stupid missile would stop me…? Because trust me, the U.S. army has tried it…and it's never worked. I made this armor and it is…**" **Tony was interrupted yet again by being hit by a missile.

He sped out of the smoke in less than a second and shouted, "Really? Can you not let me finish anything? I was going to say…**Invincible**, damnit. You first have to wake me up at six AM-six AM!- and then won't even let me finish my f#$%ing sentences!" Tony immediately caught up to Rhodey.

"Stop having a tantrum, Tony, we have to end this," Rhodey told his best friend.

"Fine by me. I want to go home and sleep," Tony yawned.

"Die, Stark! You will pay for…" Anton Vanko began.

"Will you shut up?" Tony shouted and turned his helmet/head to Rhodey, "So, what's the plan?"

"Maneuver 16B," Rhodey said.

"Yeah…I don't know what that means," Tony said.

"It means put on the brakes, wait for him to fly over us and shoot him with everything you've got!" Rhodey could not believe the arrogance of the man...

"Jesus Christ, Rhodey, that's all you had to say and I would've understood," Tony said, completely serious.

"And he's supposed to be the smart one…" Rhodey sighed as the two Iron Men activated the air powered, reverse repulsor breaks.

The two stopped flying suddenly and The Crimson Dynamo sped over them, "What the hell?" The Russian man exclaimed.

Tony told his armor's computer, "JARVIS, activate the Uni-Beam, full power."

"Yes, sir," JARVIS responded.

The circular center of Tony's armor began to glow as Rhodey's extremely large machine gun, rocket launcher, and every other gun he'd had attached to the War Machine suit activated.

"Lock and load, b$%^h," Tony said as a large repulsor blast burst from his chest. Rhodey began firing everything he had.

The Crimson Dynamo armor could only take a few seconds of pummeling before it deactivated, "NOOOOOO!" Anton screamed as the armor began to plummet through the sky.

Iron Man, Tony, raced down and caught him and flew slowly to the ground to be greeted by three S.W.A.T. cars.

"He's all yours, officers," Tony dropped the man.

All of the S.W.A.T. team and police officers looked at each other, unsure of what to do with the supervillain despite it being almost two years since Iron Man first appeared.

Iron Man hovered back up to Rhodey, "The good guys win again, huh?"

However, War Machine paid no attention to his partner. No, he was staring straight into the sky at a quickly growing black hole…

"What the hell is that?" War Machine muttered.

"What are you…" Iron Man followed his friend's gaze, "Oh my God, that's a f#$%ing Einstein-Rosen Bridge…"

"A what?" War Machine asked.

"A wormhole, for you lesser minded people," Iron Man said as an extremely large space-ship came through it. The ship was a polished black, made of a fleeting metal that appeared to be flawless.

A large walkway opened at the bottom of the ship. Thanos strut out of the ship like royalty and when he reached the end of the walkway, he began to float slowly towards the two Iron Men.

"Um…" Iron Man began, "Mr. Hulk-Alien-Thing, sir, on behalf of the Military of the United States of America…"

"You don't work with the military…you've refused S.H.I.E.L.D.'s invitations multiple times," Rhodey interrupted him.

"Shut up," Tony whispered, "On behalf of the U.S. military I ask you to please go through customs to enter our country…and the world."

"What the hell, Tony? You're asking some freaky powerful-looking alien to go through **customs**? Are you trying to get killed?" Rhodey turned his helmet-head to Thanos.

"Listen, whoever you are get the hell off our planet right now!" Rhodey, War Machine, commanded, his machine gun cocked.

"Who are you, stupid Earthling, to tell me what to do?" Thanos growled. He hovered down right in front of War Machine and Iron Man.

"Me, sir? I'm James Rhodes, Lieutenant in the U.S. military and the superhero War Machine," Rhodey stated calmly.

"War Machine? You look more like a Trash Can to me…" Thanos insulted the African-American man.

"Ooohh…you got dissed by an alien," Tony tried to lighten the obviously serious mood.

"Shut up, Tony." Rhodey growled.

Thanos cracked his knuckles, "My name is Thanos, The Mad Titan. I single-handedly have destroyed fifteen planets in three different Solar Systems and killed over sixty-one billion puny mortals like you. Get out of my way now, or you'll be number sixty-one billion and one."

"Wrong answer," War Machine activated his uni-beam, completely enveloping Thanos in the repulsor blast. He kept blasting him with it for about ten seconds until his armor couldn't sustain that amount of power being used.

Smoke cleared and Thanos was still floating there, unscathed.

"No... _that_ was the wrong answer," Thanos punched War Machine in his arc reactor power core. It exploded and War Machine fell to the ground.

"Rhodey!" Tony flew down after his friend.

Rhodey's helmet had completely fallen off and the chest part of the armor was ripped to shreds.

Dark crimson blood quickly arose from his chest. Tony's helmet, on mental command, slid down into his armor (like in the movies) exposing his face. Tears glistened in his eyes.

"Rhodey…" Tony didn't know what to say.

"Tony…" Rhodey muttered, "Leave. You can't beat this guy alone. He's too strong. You need to join the government's Initiative…live to fight with other heroes another day, Tony. Live to fight another day…" All color was seeping from Rhodey's face.

"Don't talk like that, it'll be fine…I…we are going to kick that alien-Thanos-person's a$$…together…" Tony forced his tears back. This couldn't be the end.

"Heh…yeah, right. This guy kicks way more ass than Iron Man and his stupid side-kick War Machine…" Rhodey's eyes started to slide back into his head.

"You're not my sidekick," Tony demanded.

Rhodey shook his head, "Tony, listen to me now...you don't have to work alone...you don't have to do everything alooonnneee..." Rhodey eyes completely slid backwards. Tony still forced the tears back, but they threatened to come bursting out at any moment. He shut Rhodey's two open eyes and stood up and faced Thanos.

"Now, you see what happens when you cross me, mortal. You're inefficient, dated technology cannot match my power. So, do you wish to follow your friend's footsteps and die now? Although you soon will anyway…Everyone will die..." Thanos shouted from high in the sky.

Tony felt his helmet quickly slide around his head, "You're dead."

**S.H.I.E.L.D. Base, Fifteen Miles Away**

"What the hell is that thing?" Nick Fury exclaimed.

A S.H.I.E.L.D. operative, Maria Hill, quickly ran up to him, "Sir, from our video coverage we know the thing claims it's name is Thanos. And sir…"

"Yes?" Fury growled.

"It…he just killed James Rhodes, War Machine, sir."

"What?" Fury sighed in disbelief, "Get anyone and everyone down there, now…and send Cap too."

"Yes, sir. And, Director Fury, the Fantastic Four are also already on their way," Hill stated while pulling out a cell-phone-looking device and typing into it, "All personnel, head to Times Square immediately."

"Good, because we're going to need everything we've got to take that son of a b%^&* down."

**Times Square**

Iron Man activated his repulsor boots and blasted into the air.

He lifted his hands up and began to fire as much concussive blasts as he could at the large alien.

Thanos simply ignored the blasts and lifted the Infinity Gauntlet up. The orange Time Gem glowed brightly and Tony froze completely in mid-air, blasts and all.

"Stupid, human. I have the ability to control all of time and reality," Thanos lifted Iron Man's frozen body up and the Time Gem stopped shining.

Thanos ripped the helmet off Tony's head and examined the man as he began to squirm.

Tony spit on Thanos and shouted, "Kill me already, you stupid ugly freak!"

Thanos growled at the insult, "Death is too good for you, annoying man. You will live to see the day I destroy your stupid world…"

Thanos ripped the chest part of the suit off of Tony, including the Arc Reactor and he let go of Tony.

"That is, if you can survive the fall."

Tony plummeted through the air. He closed his eyes and thought, surprisingly calm, _Even if I somehow survive this fall, without my Arc Reactor I'm going to die...I'm going to see Rhodey again...my mother...my father..._

Suddenly he felt the Arc Reactor forming in his chest, "What the hell?" Tony said.

He looked up; Thanos was grinning, "You don't get to die that easily, mortal."

And then Tony's arm began to burn.

"Ow!" Tony shouted and he looked up to see Johnny Storm, The Human Torch, holding on to him.

"The correct response is, 'thank you, Mr. Storm for saving my stupid life.'" Johnny grinned at Tony.

"Wait, did you come…"

Johnny grinned wider, "Alone? Nah, I'm never alone."

Tony followed Johnny's gaze and saw the rest of The Fantastic Four who seemed to be floating in mid-air. Tony almost immediately realized that they were standing on one of Susan Storm's invisible force fields.

Johnny flew Tony over to the rest of his team.

"Listen, can one of you…"

Reed Richards, a semi-decent friend of Tony's and a brilliant scientist interrupted, "Don't worry about this. Go home. Have a funeral for your friend. Party and get drunk. This is a cosmic threat and **we** are the experts on cosmic threats."

Tony sighed but reluctantly agreed to this. He was flown to the ground to be greeted by a small black car, a man in the suit standing in the front.

"Agent Coulson…" Tony regretted ever stepping foot on the ground.

"Mr. Stark, please come with me."

"I don't know if…"

Agent Coulson interrupted Tony, "We have your armor. We need you. You need us. The world needs you and us. Come on."

"I…" Tony didn't know how to respond to the barrage of info he'd just been given, "Wait…you have my armor? How the hell do you have my armor?"

Agent Coulson simply pushed Tony into the car.

"Damn, I guess I need new security codes…" Tony muttered as the car began to speed away.

High above the ground, the Fantastic Four were attacking Thanos, "It's clobberin' time!"

The Thing jumped off the Invisible Woman's, Susan Storm's, force field. Right as he was about to reach Thanos he slowed down.

"How the hell?" The Thing exclaimed.

Thanos held up his armored hand, "Time Gem. I control time." Thanos punched Ben Grimm, The Thing, straight into the ground.

The Thing tried to get up but fell back to the ground, only alive because of his small invulnerability.

"Damn, he clobbered **me**."

"Ben!" Reed shouted as his friend fell back to the ground.

"That's it…Susan, Field Goal," Reed commanded as he stretched himself into a ball. Suddenly he was hit by an…invisible foot!

He flew through the air towards Thanos, but as soon as he came close red energy erupted from Thanos' eyes, heat vision, and launched Reed towards the ground. Luckily, Susan reacted quickly and created a force field to catch him.

"Gotcha!" Susan grinned.

"Thanks, hon," Reed grinned back at his wife.

Suddenly, Johnny burst through the air, "Sis, makes those bullet-ball things!" He said.

Susan understood what her little brother was trying to say and she created and "shot" small, bullet-like force fields. Johnny then shot fire at them and set them on fire.

"And that's a real heater!" Johnny joked as his sister just frowned.

Thanos easily evaded all four fire-bullets and his eyes began to glow red again.

"Pests," he growled.

"No, Johnny!" Susan jumped off her hovering force field and tackled her brother out of the air and harms way.

They began to plummet to the ground but luckily Johnny's instincts kicked in and he yelled, "Flame on!" He burst into flames and caught his sister.

"That's two saves in one day!" Johnny smiled.

"Not now Johnny," Susan replied, jumping from Johnny's arms onto an invisible force field.

Reed in the meantime was standing on one of Susan's force fields, trying to decide how to stop Thanos.

"No…that won't work…" Reed thought out loud.

"You all have annoyed me long enough. It's time to die!" Thanos began firing an extremely large heat blast from his eyes to the unsuspecting Reed.

"No, Reed!" Susan jumped after Reed.

She tried to tackle him out of the air but his body automatically stretched to keep him from moving, "Oh, damn." He said.

Susan barely managed to move the force field in time to keep them from getting blown to smithereens.

"Reed, stop thinking and do something!" Susan screamed as Johnny tried pelting Thanos with fireballs, which he easily evaded.

Thanos quickly maneuvered to Johnny grabbed his leg and dislocated it, "AAGGHH!" Johnny screamed.

Thanos then tossed him to the ground and Sue caught him with force field and set him gently on the ground.

"You dislocated my leg you b$%^&!" Johnny screamed as Sue caught him.

"I really am getting tired of this," Thanos growled and he activated the Time Gem.

Susan and Reed were frozen in place and Thanos shot a burst of heat vision larger than any he had before.

"Sis!" Johnny screamed, trying to get up.

"Stretch!" The barely conscious Ben Grimm shouted.

The two spouses were enveloped in red and when the smoke cleared there was…nothing.

"NOOOOO!" Johnny burst into flames, "You're going to die you…"

Johnny was interrupted by a dozen S.H.I.E.L.D. helicopters that circled around Thanos.

"Son, please back down, I'm sorry for your loss, but you need to back down," Captain America shouted from one of the helicopters.

"Why the hell should I…" Johnny was interrupted again, but this time by Thanos,

"How many of you do I have to kill before you'll let me go in peace," Thanos directed his question to the recently arrived Steve Rogers, "Must I show my full power on you stupid Earthlings before you understand you have no chance?"

"Listen, uh…Thanos, correct? You must immediately leave this planet or pay the consequences. You have killed three good Americans and made us evacuate the entire city of New York. But we will give you full amnesty if you leave immediately," Steve Rogers, Captain America, commanded.

"Fine, I supposed I must show you my power…" Thanos lifted his gauntleted hand up and the yellow gem glowed brightly.

Suddenly, all of the helicopters disappeared and all the men in them began to fall.

"No!" The suddenly active Johnny Storm burst through the sky trying to catch anyone he could.

"Not today, Earthling," Thanos said, and Johnny suddenly 'flamed off.'

"Damnit!" Johnny began to fall with the rest of the soldiers.

And suddenly Johnny was caught by a metal covered hand…

"Iron Man?" Johnny looked up to see Tony Stark flying through the sky, holding onto him.

"I thought I should repay the favor," Tony said through the armor, "Now it's time to save an icon."

Tony burst through the sky, swerving to dodge all the flying people.

"What are you doing? People are dying!" Johnny screamed.

"I only have two hands…I regret it just as much as you do but I can only save one other person…" Tony found the falling body of Steve Rogers and grabbed ahold of him.

"What the hell are you doing? Save somebody other than me!" Steve screamed.

"Just shut up and thank me for saving your a$$" Tony shouted as he flew the two men to the ground, next to the unconscious Ben Grimm.

Bodies fell all around the four and Johnny fainted. Tony and Steve both tried to catch the falling bodies, but to no success.

"We need to go," Iron Man said.

Steve looked up at Thanos with hatred, "Yes we do. Take me to Fury," Steve ordered Iron Man.

And immediately Tony grabbed Steve and flew him away, leaving the two unconscious Fantastic Four members to be picked up by the police.

High above them Thanos shouted loud enough for everyone in a twenty mile radius to hear, "Leader of the Infinity Watch, come forth! Face your doom!"

Cap and Iron Man arrived at the S.H.I.E.L.D. base in less than two minutes and weaved their way through its long hallways, Tony 'desuiting' all the while. As soon as Steve Rogers entered the main room he hurried up to the African American head of S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury, and grabbed his collar.

"What the hell is that thing?" Steve growled.

Fury did not react when Captain America grabbed his shirt and explained, "We have no idea. Now put me down Captain. That's an order."

Steve reluctantly let go of Fury, "What are you going to do about it?"

"What do you think? It's time to assemble a team. It's time to assemble the Avengers."

**HIGH ABOVE BROXTON, OKLAHOMA, 1:30 PM**

Thor was beating down The Wrecker when the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicopter flew overhead. The super villain was unconscious by the time it landed and Thor grimaced as he turned to the vehicle.

The doors slid open and the God of Thunder was surprised, but happy, to see Steve Rogers walk out of the vehicle dressed in his costume. He was not surprised and extremely unhappy to see Nick Fury stroll out after the American Icon. And yet again he was surprised and uneased when Iron Man walked out after them, his helmet held in his right hand.

"To what do I owe the pleasure, Captain?" Thor ignored the two other men.

"Thor, the World is in danger…"

"Yes, I know. I've seen the…what do you mortals call it?...the News? That alien monstrosity calling himself Thanos." Thor interrupted Steve.

"Yes. Thankfully for now at least, Thanos has disappeared. He appears to have vanished into thin air when a recently identified man named Adam Warlock flew up to him." Tony grimaced at the name Adam Warlock, and Nick Fury tried to interrupt.

"Thor…"

"Please be quiet, Fury, I'll deal with this." Steve angrily told Fury.

"Captain…"

"Shut up!" Thor shouted and thunder boomed overhead.

Steve put a hand on Thor's shoulders, "Thor, Thanos is bound to come back. We need your help. Will you join the Avengers?"

Thor sighed and pushed Steve's hand away, "I'm sorry, friend, but no. I shall not be your government's lap dog…I will still protect Midgard, but I'm afraid not with you. And I'm sure that I can deal with this threat alone, anyway."

"Please, Thor," Tony interrupted, "I felt the same way just hours before, but then my best friend died at the hands of this monster. Neither I, nor the Fantastic Four could even touch him. We need everyone we can get to stop this guy. Join us."

"I…" Thor looked into Captain America's and Iron Man's pleading eyes, "You've fought by my side many a time, Captain, and I know you to be a good man. I will join you…"

"Great," Fury said.

"…But only if you agree to this…"

"What is it?" Fury demanded.

Thor grinned, "Take out the trash, Fury." Thor pointed to the Wrecker and flew to the helicopter.

"Stupid God of Thunder," Fury muttered as he signaled for multiple S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives to come deal with the large super villain's body.

**LATER THAT DAY, A S.H.I.E.L.D. Base**

"How many more recruits are coming?" Steve asked Fury.

"We have a few more who agreed to come and I plan on even offering a few villains from the Raft a chance…"

"Fury, you can't just let known villains free into the world?" Tony exclaimed.

"I can if they're going to save it."

"That's...whatever," Tony sighed and Thor asked, "Who exactly is this Adam Warlock person? Why did that monster disappear with him?"

Tony interrupted Fury before he even began, "Warlock was a…" (He's Adam Warlock, and if you're reading this you should know him! For his official origin check out Infinite Iron Man because it's going to happen sometime-ish...)

"I still do not understand what he has to do with the monster," Thor sat back in his chair.

"Neither do we…" Fury sighed as his phone rang.

He picked it up, "Yes, alright. Let them in."

He hung up the phone and Cap asked, "Who was that?"

"That was Agent Maria Hill…the others have arrived."

**NOTE: Alright, that's the first chapter! And if you didn't like it then still keep reading 'cuz it's going to get better and better… I promise you that! The last few parts are rushed so sorry! The next chapter will be the intro of some of the other Avengers and Day 2! A certain big green angry monster-person is going to fight the Avengers and more heroes will join up with them. Also you'll find out what happens between Thanos and Warlock next chapter! Keep checking my account because chances are I will have links to pictures of what the characters look like in the Infinite Universe! They don't all look like their 616 or 1610 counter parts. Please review and vote on the poll on my page.**

**Next: Day 2: When Earth's Mightiest Heroes Found Themselves United**


	2. When Earth's Mightiest Heroes Are United

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE CHARACTERS WHO APPEAR IN THIS WORK!**

**Note: Please review, vote on the poll on my page, and check out my other stories…**

**2 Cover- Captain America stands in the center, his hands crossed at the front, his shield attached to them. Iron Man and Thor stand on each side of him.**

**Variant- Same cover as the main except Cap being replaced by himself pre-super soldier serum. Iron Man is Tony Stark in a business suit and Thor is Donald Blake.**

**December 21, 2012, Afternoon, Deep Space**

"So…you're our so called 'leader'? I expected you to be, well…" Thanos, The Mad Titan, examined the man floating in front of him, "…taller."

The man, Adam Warlock, leader of the Infinity Watch and defender of the Soul Gem, frowned, "And I expected you to be less stupid."

"So you truly wish to meet Death…" Thanos grinned evilly, the two gems on the Infinity Gauntlet shining.

"It is you who is courting death, murderer," Warlock growled while cracking his knuckles. The purple soul gem that was merged into his forehead glowed, releasing a burst of energy that blew his blonde hair back.

Thanos' grin grew larger, "Indeed." The Mad Titan raised his armored hand and activated his reality gem, but as soon as he was about to erase Warlock from existence Warlock raised his hand, stopping him.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Warlock held up his hand, an indigo sphere shaped oddly like Thanos' head floated in front of his palm, "The Soul Gem's power allows me to control your soul. I will banish it to a land of eternal torture where you will never die, if you attempt to wipe me from existence."

"Liar. Erasing you from existence would stop you from ever being able to banish my soul …" Thanos was interrupted by Warlock.

"While that may be true, it is also true that the Soul Gem will be moved to another guardian if you erase my existence."

Thanos sighed, "You…I…."

Warlock grinned, realizing he'd brought their cosmic battle to a standstill.

He then thought back to the events that had transpired just a few minutes earlier, back before this fight…

After Thanos had killed War Machine and Sue and Reed Richards, he just waited above the city of New York, calling out every minute, "Leader of the Infinity Watch! Come forth or I will destroy your planet!" And every minute Adam didn't appear before Thanos, Thanos' giant warship destroyed a building, killing everyone inside.

Warlock waited down below in the middle of a crowd of soldiers, invisible to all their eyes.

After the fifth building was destroyed, Warlock realized he couldn't wait out Thanos. He began to float up to the Mad Titan, allowing himself to be seen, his golden skin glinting in the sunlight.

"Thanos: tyrant, Mad Titan, and guardian of the Reality Gem, stop at once!" Warlock held out his arms, floating in a position reminiscent of Jesus being crucified on a cross.

Thanos grinned maliciously, "Ah…you must be my heralded leader. It's pleasing to see you've decided to come forward, so I will not be forced to waste my time destroying this pitiful planet."

Warlock nodded his head, "Indeed you shall not! Now, Thanos, what is it that you seek?"

"Your gem, whichever it may be." Thanos pointed his bulky armored finger at the purple gem in Warlock's head.

"So, you quest to assemble the Infinity Gauntlet…I'm afraid I can not let that pass," The golden skinned man, formerly known as Him, sighed, disappointed.

Thanos eyes glowed red, atomic heat energy streaming from the edges, "Then you will die."

"Possibly, but not here. Thanos, we will take our battle away from this planet," With a flick of his hand, Warlock opened a portal into deep space. He quickly flew into it, before Thanos could react.

"Damn you," Thanos burst into the portal after Warlock….

"Thanos," Warlock, in control of Thanos' soul, began, "I propose a duel. You drop the Infinity Gauntlet; I let your soul be. We fight to the death without our respective gems."

"Very well," Thanos ripped the golden gauntlet away from his hand, and let it float in the hard vacuum.

Warlock, in the blink of an eye, reached his hands up and gracefully took the indigo gem out of his forehead. The gem disappeared in a flash of light.

"I would like to know your name before I kill you. And the names of the other Watchmen," Thanos requested.

"My name I shall give you. I am Adam Warlock, man-made man, and time traveler. Also one of the most powerful beings in the galaxy. The others, I shall not give to you. Although, I will tell you this: they will make themselves known to you." Warlock replied graciously.

"I thank you, and will now make your death quick…and painful!" Thanos burst through the open vacuum that is space towards Warlock. Warlock dodged Thanos charge, and fired a blast of golden energy from his palm. Thanos ducked under this and fired beams of red-hot energy at Warlock, who under the blasts and to Thanos.

Thanos met Warlock's charge head on, the two's fierce touch causing an explosion of cosmic energy. Warlock attempted to punch Thanos in the face, who simply grabbed his attacker's fist and threw him away.

The two flew at each other again, clashing over and over again, causing rippled of cosmic energy to flow through the Universe. The battle went on to last over an entire Earth day, before one of them finally slipped.

Warlock charged at Thanos, his fists aglow, and ready to make his final attack. But Thanos, prepared for this, muttered a word and the Infinity Gauntlet came bursting to his hand. Warlock was stopped mid-attack, caught in time.

"I do not play fair when it comes to the fate of my plans," Thanos grabbed Warlock's neck in much the same way he had done to Rhomann Dey just over a day earlier. He released Warlock's prison in time, and the golden-skinned being began to squirm.

"You have lost. The game is over. The Earth—possibly even the Universe— will pay for your failure…" Thanos grinned evilly, his almost claw-like teeth scraping against each other.

"You are wrong," Warlock struggled for breath, "Earth…and the Universe…are stronger than you could ever imagine. Earth's—Earth's Mightiest—Heroes—Will—Stop—You…" And with that final word Thanos broke Warlock's neck.

"Pathetic," The Mad Titan grimaced, prepared to now hunt down Rhomann Dey and the other two Watchmen, and to destroy all of Earth.

**INFINITE AVENGERS**

**Day 2: When Earth's Mightiest Heroes Are United…**

"…They're here," Fury's words rang through Steve Rogers, Captain America's, head as he waited for the new members of both SHIELD and the Avengers to arrive through the ridiculously large steel doors.

"Who is it? Where are they from?" Tony Stark, Iron Man, was also questions, all the time.

Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD, turned to the three present superhumans….well, two superhumans and billionaire philanthropist in a really cool suit.

"I made a couple of calls. One to Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. (This convo and more will be explored later in Infinite X-Men…eventually) The other to someone who's… _helped_ _out_ in the past. Both said, yes, in a way. Xavier said it was up to his students to decide if they wanted to come save the world with us. I don't know how many are coming but I do know some are. The _other_…just said yes."

Tony sighed, only slightly worried, "Why do you say _other _and _helped out_ like it's not entirely a good thing."

"You'll see…" Fury took a deep breath as the three men behind him prepared for the worst…

A metallic male voice spoke through the monitors in the room, "Agent Maria Hill, S-103."

Thor jumped back, surprised by the voice, "What is that voice? And what does Maria Hill, S-103 mean?"

Fury motioned towards the monitors, which displayed a face that looked much like an ant's head, except robotic, "That's Ultron, the AI system Hank Pym installed to run this place and all of SHIELD," And Fury pointed to the doors, which slowly began to open, "And that means the others have now really arrived."

"AI…?" Cap and Thor both questioned as the doors opened. _Just another weird modern term for television, maybe? _Cap thought.

In through the doors walked six people, three female, and three male.

The first woman led the group and was dressed in a standard SHIELD uniform, her dark hair tied back into a ponytail. This was Maria Hill.

Immediately behind her was a lanky girl, whose entire body was covered in a crimson and black spandex suit. She worse a tight black mask that was entirely black, with two crimson lenses. A black symbol of a spider was right above her chest.

The next male was dressed in a yellow and blue, slightly armored suit, with matching gloves. The cowl was pulled over his face, and tailed up at the sides. An X emblem was sewn in right above his heart.

Behind him was a large blue furry man. He wore no shirt, only black pants that had a large yellow X cutting across his thighs and crotch. Black rimmed spectacles were perched on his snout

The last two looked similar, at least in their faces, and were both clearly teenagers. One, however, was a boy and the other a girl. The boy was dressed in a green and white slightly armored suit, clearly made to be aerodynamic. White lightning bolts streaked down the thighs. The girl was dressed in a risqué scarlet suit. She had a similarly colored crown-like headpiece. Both of the siblings had an X as the buckle on a belt they wore, each of there's their corresponding color, green, and red.

"The first one is the _other, _Brenda Reilly, Scarlet Spider," Fury explained.

Tony frowned, confused, "But why is she so…"

The armored avengers was interrupted by Scarlet Spider's squeals of joy. "Oh my God! You're _the _Tony Stark. My idol! You're, like, a genius, and rich and…"

"Whoa, cool it down a little there, Ms. Spider," Tony held his hands out, surprised he had to push a girl away. But, luckily for him, she was gone in a second.

"Oh my God! You're Thor! You're way hotter than Youtube makes you seem! And you're Captain America! You're like my inspiration…sort of!"

Cap walked by the adoring teen hero, and to the leader of the X-Men pack, Wolverine.

"It's good to have all of you work with us," Cap held out his hand for Wolverine to shake.

Wolverine pushed it away, "Don't try it, Cap. I'm really not in the mood, even for you."

"I…okay," Cap said, surprised.

Wolverine walked away, muttering, "We weren't called here to be the Super-Friends for God's sake."

Thor approached the two younger mutants, and clasped his hand on Quicksilver's shoulder, "You two are awfully young…"

Quicksilver walked away from Thor, letting the god's hand fall away from his shoulder.

"Cut it out, Goldie," Quicksilver growled, and Scarlet Witch turned to Thor to apologize, "I'm sorry. He's in a bad mood. Him and Wolverine."

Beast approached the young billionaire Tony Stark and shook his hand, "Mr. Stark, it's an honor to see you again."

"The honor's all mine, Hank," Tony grinned, "And by the way, I love what you've done with your hair."

Hank didn't laugh at the joke, and instead growled, "That…is not something we should talk about…for your sake…it makes the beast inside come out…"

"Like the Hulk?" Tony joked.

"Yeah, except with claws."

This entire time Hill and Fury had a private discussion, and after Maria Hill showed the Director something on a small device shaped like a phone, Fury turned to the superhumans and cleared his throat.

They all turned to him and got silent, even Spider.

"Good. Now, I know you all just arrived, and most of you are only here for Thanos, but we have missions for all of you," Quicksilver grimaced at this, and Wanda grabbed his arm to keep him from doing anything rash.

"After the attack on New York, we lost a lot of men. This means we need you to do their jobs for them. Agents Coulson, Barton, and Morse are cleaning up the mess in New York. We need you to deal with everything else," Fury pointed to the large monitor behind him, "Ultron, display the information Agent Hill just sent you."

On command the screen changed from the creepy robotic face to a map of the world. Certain regions around the world were highlighted in red.

Fury pointed to one of the highlighted regions, which was in California.

"Dr. McCoy, I want you to take Mr. and Ms. Maximoff to deal with Whirlwind in California. Wasp, Ant-Man, and Yellowjacket will meet you there to help out," Fury then pointed to a highlighted area in central-Eastern Africa, "Cap and Spider, I need you two to go to Wakanda. They may hate outsiders but we'll need their help in the coming battles. Wakanda is also the only place on Earth vibranium can be found, and if Thanos is going to have whatever powers or weapons he has, then we'll need some big-ass weapons as well….but remember, do not engage unless forced to."

"Yes, sir," Steve replied, and Scarlet Spider just fist pumped, excited to be with _the_ Captain America on her very first mission for SHIELD.

"And lastly," Fury pointed to a place in Brazil, the last highlighted zone, "You three get the fun job. Agent Romanov," Tony frowned at the name, remembering bad memories, "was sent to Brazil to get a certain….friend to help us stop Thanos."

Tony's frown grew, his super-genius brain working through every possibility, "You send us three, the best killer, and the two most powerful members on the team, on one mission, and then say it's fun. Who is it that Widow went after?"

"Can't you tell?" Fury grinned, "It's the Hulk."

**In Just A Few Hours, December 22, 2012, Above A Small Brazilian Town**

Wolverine growled, staring at the glass case in front of him.

"This is stupid," he said, "Mine is good enough."

"No, it's not," Hill replied, motioning towards Wolverine's suit, and the one in the case. "You're dressed like a serial killer drag queen, and for what you're going to be used for, that isn't good."

"Used…" Wolverine did not like that word.

"Yes, I'm not Fury. I'll put it bluntly…_used._ You're going to be an assassin, a warrior. Not a superhero. The Avengers Initiative was an idea to bring together the world's most powerful police force. You're not supposed to be super heroes, like from comic books. And more than just being good for stealth due to its dark colors and automatic camo system, but it's made of unstable molecules. It can't be ripped."

"You say I dress like a pansy, bub….?" Wolverine put on the new costume, which was really a streamlined, black and white version of his X-Men one, with a SHIELD symbol where his X was, "Well, then I guess I'm dressing like one now, because this is exactly the same. 'Cept darker."

"Whatever," Hill walked away to the front of the plane and asked the pilot when they'd be overhead. The pilot responded with, "Now. And Ms. Hill, you should see this. It ain't looking good. Agent Romanov failed to keep him calm."

"Damn," Hill cursed, "Team, get ready, but do not leave yet."

Suddenly, the hatch opened, "Pilot! What the hell is going on?"

Iron Man approached the edge of the hatch, in full armor, "That would be me, Hill."

"What are you doing? We need a plan of attack! And more than that we need to wait on…"

Iron Man replied coldly, "I have a plan: attack."

And with those words he jumped out of the plane and blasted down through the air towards the raging Jade Giant.

"%^&* this," Wolverine, finished changing, jumped out of the plane despite Hill's pleas. Thor turned to Maria, apologized, and followed behind the two other heroes.

"Damn them all," Hill growled.

Down below, Hulk was running after a speeding van, that SHIELD agents, including Agent Romanov were driving away in. Hulk caught up and right when it seemed all hope was lost there was a blinding flash of light and Hulk flew backwards.

Iron Man had arrived! He floated in mid-air, and turned his head to Natasha Romanov, the Black Widow, "And after all you've done, I could've let you die! But I didn't, and now you're going to say sor…"

"Stark!" Natasha warned.

"Oh shit, he's right behind me, isn't he?" Iron Man sighed as a force too large to calculate hit him.

And right as Iron Man was hit, Wolverine crashed to the ground in front of Hulk, his legs breaking on impact, but fully healed in a matter of seconds.

"Aw, so it's you we're after. Rematch time, eh, bub?" Wolverine growled as his claws slid out of his hands, recalling a bad memory. He jumped up, all the way to the Hulk's face, but only to be swatted away like a fly.

Thor flew down right afterwards, striking Hulk's head with Mjolnir. The Hulk shrugged off the attack, and frowned.

"I see that this beast will be much tougher than any Frost Giants I have fought…" Thor took a deep breath and began to hit Hulk over and over with Mjolnir. But it seemed like after every hit, Hulk got more and more angry, more and more powerful, not less and less tired.

"What in the name of Odin's beard….?" Thor was punched by Hulk, whose giant fist sent the god of thunder flying.

Right as the Hulk turned his attention back to the SHIELD agents who all, minus Widow, had left, he was blasted in the face by a rocket.

Natasha prayed that the Hulk would at least feel a little pain, be a little hurt…but her prayers weren't answered. Hulk merely shrugged off the explosive, walking through the smoke created by the large explosion, towards Natasha. No, she indeed hadn't stopped the monster; she'd just made it angrier!

"**HULK SMASH PUNY EXPLOSION GIRL!"**

Natasha muttered a curse in Russian, and began to run away. Luckily, after just a few steps of running and just after Hulk had begun to run after her, the large SHIELD Quinjet flew overhead. The hatch opened enough for a grappling hook to be let down.

"What are you doing? He'll kill you too!" Natasha screamed as the high-tech, Stark-built plane lowered.

"Who gives a shit? We risk our lives everyday, Nat!" Maria Hill shouted as Natasha grabbed onto the line and began to be hoisted upwards.

Just behind them, the Jade Giant began to crouch, preparing to spring himself towards the Quinjet. Right as his feet left the ground he was hit by a sudden red and gold object…Iron Man! And right behind him was the God of Thunder, Thor, who flew hammer-first into the Hulk after Iron Man.

The Hulk roared in pain, letting out a screech that could kill an animal out of pure terror.

High above them, the Quinjet was directly meeting another plane. The two hatches opened and connected to make a stable bridge between aircrafts. A pretty brunette in a lab coat ran through the second jet into the Quinjet.

"Thor, get back, I'm giving him all I've got!" Iron Man ordered, and the Asgardian deity backed up.

"JARVIS, reroute all my power to the Uni-Beam and fire," Tony ordered his internal AI system.

"Yes, sir." Jarvis British-robotic voice replied. In a matter of seconds, Iron Man's chest core glowed brightly, preparing the attack.

"Fire!"

A burst of concussive energy blasted from the core, practically enveloping the Hulk. But the Hulk pushed on, through the blast. He simply held out his hands and trudged forward.

Tony couldn't believe it. His Uni-Beam, without all of the armor's power being redirected to it, could kill or seriously injure any of his opponents, even the monstrous dragon-alien-god-thing Fin Fang Foom. But Hulk merely pushed through it, not even knocked back in the slightest.

The Hulk eventually reached Iron Man, whose armor had lost almost all power. The Jade Giant reached out his giant emerald hand over Iron Man's blasting chest armor and ripped it off, surprisingly leaving the Arc Reactor core.

Hulk seemed to sigh and pointed his finger at Iron Man, **"Hulk no like it when Tin Man shoot Hulk. Hulk thinks Tin Man leave Hulk alone now."**

"Yes, sir," Tony replied, taking the helmet off his face and collapsing to the ground.

"Monster, what have you done to him?" Thor shouted as he flew through the air, his hammer connecting with Hulk's jaw.

"**GOLDILOCKS MAKE HULK ANGRY! GOLDILOCKS NO LIKE HULK ANGRY!"**

The Incredible Hulk burst through the air to Thor, grabbed his face and smashed him into the ground. Thor, however, stood up after this strike, and struck Hulk harder than ever, lightning pouring from the sky into the Jade Giant.

The Hulk staggered for a second, and seeing this as his opportunity to strike, Thor smacked Hulk again with Mjolnir, causing another lightning strike. He did this again and again, but Hulk never fell. And the entire time Hulk just got madder and madder until…

"**HULK SMASH!" **Hulk grabbed onto Thor's feet, mid-swing, and smashed him into the ground ten times. When he last let Thor go, the god of Thunder was unconscious.

"Looks like it's just you and me, again. Two monsters fighting it out," Wolverine growled, cracking his neck. He'd run for a couple of miles to get back here, and _he was angry. _

Wolverine jumped into the air, this time dodging Hulk's fist. He stabbed his claws into Hulk's shoulders and began to cut up the Hulk's back as it struggled to knock him off.

Eventually, after being dealt many cuts, Hulk managed to grab Wolverine, and ripped him off his back, green blood covering his hands.

He held Wolverine out so that his arms were stretched as far as they could go.

"**Hulk no like when small man poke Hulk with sticks…" **

"Sucks to be you then…" Wolverine chuckled as he was smashed into the ground over and over again. When he was at last held back up, his face was covered in blood, his large wounds beginning to heal.

"**Small man apologize."**

Wolverine spit blood and saliva into Hulk's face. The Jade Giant grimaced and prepared to smash Wolverine again when…

"Bruce?"

Hulk turned around, now carrying Wolverine like a doll, **"Be-tty?"**

Betty Ross took a step towards the Hulk, whose injuries had fully healed.

"Yes, it's me. Now, Hulk, please calm down. Let the man go. He was trying to help."

Hulk stood there for a second, and looked back and forth between Wolverine and Betty, before throwing Wolverine away.

"**Betty here to make army men stop hurting Hulk?"**

Betty sighed and looked up into the Jade Giant's emerald eyes, "Yes, Hulk. And Betty is also here to ask for your…and Bruce's help. Please, let Bruce talk to me."

Hulk looked at Betty, confused, **"It make Betty happy if Hulk let weakling out?"**

"Yes, please, Hulk," Betty replied calmly, and the Hulk slowly shifted form to that of a young skinny man, whose brown hair was streaked with gray, despite his age.

"Betty…" Tears filled Bruce's eyes, as he ran to Betty, holding up his pants. The two embraced.

"Bruce…I…"

Bruce held Betty out and looked into her eyes sternly, "I can't."

"Why, Bruce?"

"Let me rephrase that, I won't."

"Again, why?" Betty asked as Thor, Iron Man and Wolverine.

Thor asked, confused, "Wait, that monster's a man?"

"That's why," Bruce motioned to Thor, "They make good men work for them, and keep them ignorant of the crap they've done."

"What is he talking about?" Thor asked again.

"SHIELD stuff," Iron Man and Wolverine said at once.

"At least they aren't all stupid," Bruce chuckled slightly.

Betty turned Bruce's head towards her, "But Bruce, the world is in danger. You might die. The world could be destroyed."

Bruce sighed, "So what? They could probably stop this threat alone, anyway. And even if they didn't, I can't die. I've tried. I've tested my limits…or lack there of. No matter what happens the _other guy_ always comes out and both of us survive, unscathed."

It was now Betty's turn to sigh, as tears filled her eyes, "But Bruce, if the world is destroyed…that means I die…even I you don't."

"I…" Bruce now realized his mistake, the point Betty was really trying to make, "…I'm sorry, Betty. I'll…I'll help…but on one condition…"

"Anything," Betty replied.

"…_The other guy _never comes out…no matter what…I can help scientifically; I'll even help build weapons! But there's going to be no _him_."

Wolverine shook his head, "That's…"

Natasha suddenly appeared behind Betty, and held out her hand for Bruce to shake, "…A deal."

**Same Time, Over California-Nevada Border**

"So…this is what you'd have us wear?" Pietro Maximoff, Quicksilver, questioned as he looked at himself in the mirror. He had changed out of his green and white X-Men uniform, and was currently wearing a black jumpsuit, made of a material he couldn't identify. Thin indented lines scrolled up the chest area and similar indentions, shaped like arrows, zigzagged down the legs. SHIELD symbols were sowed into each shoulder. He also wore black fingerless gloves.

"Yes," Agent Sharon Carter replied, "It's much less silly-looking than your X-Men costume and it's been made to increase your speed and be as aerodynamic as possible."

"…And my sister?" Quicksilver quickly looked at his sister, who had changed out of her scanty uniform into a uniform of similar style to her brother. The suit was composed of four pieces: a top, a bottom, gloves and boots. The top was crimson around her cleavage, with indentions similar to Quicksilver's pants, and the rest of it was black. The pants were red on the outer sides of each legs and black on the inside. Indentions ran down the scarlet parts of the pants. Her gloves were similarly colored as the outer parts of her pants and her chest area. They were fingerless and extended from her knuckles to just below her elbows. The boots were entirely black. A SHIELD symbol was sown right above her right breast.

"…It's simply more appropriate; especially considering she works for the government now," Agent Carter explained.

"Well…fine. Let's hope Beast…"

"…Dr. McCoy…" Wanda Maximoff, Scarlet Witch, interrupted her brother.

"…Dr. McCoy…is as obliging as we are about these…uniforms…" Quicksilver finished. He was quickly answered when Hank McCoy, exiting the changing room clad in black pants designed like the mutant twins', muttered, "This fabric is truly astonishing! It's unbreakable, and when I shed the hair falls right off, not sticking to a bit of it! I wonder if this is…"

Hank McCoy, PhD, aka Beast, looked up, "…Oh. Hello, there. Have you all seen this fabric…"

"Shut it, ugly," Quicksilver rudely said, "Let's just get to the mission already."

"Pietro!" Wanda scolded.

"It's fine, Wanda. I'm both used to being called bad names and rudely treated by now…no matter whom the jeers are from," Dr. McCoy replied, sadly looking at his gigantic hairy feet. Quickly, however, he got over this issue and looked up at Agent Carter, "Like Pietro said, let's get to it!"

Agent Carter nodded her head in agreement and led the mutants over to a large table stationed in the middle of the large aerial vehicle they were flying in. After Sharon pressed a few things, the table lit up with two pictures. One, a man clad in high-tech green armor, and the other, an indigo ethereal being shaped like a man, only with random bursts of the purple energy coming off like lightning.

"The first man is David Cannon. He's a mutant like you guys, but on the other side of the law. He can rotate his body at great speeds, allowing him to fly and move at extremely high speeds. He first discovered his mutant powers after one of the Phoenix Bursts almost a year ago. After learning to control them, he began to work for crime lords around town as a mercenary. He quickly made a name for himself but was eventually caught and defeated by Ant-Man, Wasp and Yellowjacket. After breaking out of jail, he infiltrated Hank Pym's lab and stole a suit of armor, which was meant to become a new generation Pym Particle Suit. According to our resources, he hired the Tinkerer to adjust the suit to amplify his powers. He was recently defeated again, but escaped custody and appears to be currently working with our next target…"

"Ulysses Klaw, aka Klaw. He was a brilliant scientist who, after losing his job, blamed this on Hank Pym, his partner. The two had worked together for SHIELD on a matter transporter. The only thing was, the transporter could only transport sound. Klaw was blamed for this failure and lost his job. Pym later corrected the transporter, creating a teleporter, which further proved SHIELD's theories about Klaw being the failure here. Later, Klaw snuck back into the lab and hijacked the fixed transporter. He tampered with it, and changed it so that he believed anyone that entered it would die upon the machine's activation. However, Pym came into the lab at night to test the thing before a demonstration the next day. Klaw had nowhere to go but into the transporter. Pym activated it, unaware Klaw was inside and had hijacked it. Klaw, however, didn't die but was instead transformed into living physical sound energy. He's fought Pym's team numerous times and is extremely powerful."

Quicksilver smirked, "Well then, we better hurry up or he might just destroy San Francisco."

Agent Carter nodded her head in agreement and pointed towards parachutes, "We're almost overhead. I'd get strapped into those if I were you."

The three mutants did as they were told, and right when the lat of them finished strapping in, the pilot announced they were above San Francisco. The hatch opened and the three of them stepped out onto it.

"Good luck," Agent Carter said, "And Pym's team will arrive to help eventually. Control the situation until then."

Dr. McCoy, Beast, smirked surprisingly mischievously, "You assume we won't be able to defeat them ourselves."

"No, I didn't mean it like…" But the three X-Men had already jumped out of the SHIELD aircraft.

Halfway down they all activated their parachutes, and landed swiftly on a building. Down below, just a few streets away, the two supervillains were tearing up the city.

"Wanda, Pietro…" Beast began.

"…It's Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver when we're in the field," Pietro interrupted, "And I'm not going to listen to some stupid battle plan you have. You're not a leader, Beast, you're a scientist."

Pietro sped off impulsively, without a reply from Beast.

Wanda turned to the hairy blue mutant, "I'm sorry, Dr. McCoy. He's had a tough time recently, finding out about our parents and all…"

"It's…" Beast hopped onto an adjacent roof, "It's alright, Wanda, er, Scarlet Witch. We need to hurry and stop your brother before he gets himself killed."

Wanda then flew after Beast, who hopped from building to building till at last they arrived in the midst of a devastated street. Civilians ran around in terror as the two supervillains fought two heroes. Whirlwind was engaged with Quicksilver, and Klaw was fighting…Moon Knight!

The white-clad hero hopped above one of Klaw's sound blasts and kicked the villain in the face.

"Took you other heroes long enough! Me and the Justice League here have been fighting this villains for an hour!" Moon Knight exclaimed, waving his hand in the air, pointing to people who do not exist.

"Justice League…?" Beast questioned as he jumped into the fray.

Moon Knight dodged one of Klaw's attacks again, and began to name off, "Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg. You know, the guys in capes and shit around me. They're fighting these guys too!"

"I think you need to go see a therapist, sir," Beast attempted to claw Klaw's eyes out. (Pun intended)

"Whatever," Moon Knight muttered. Suddenly he hopped into the air and threw moon-shaped disks as Klaw, who dodged them all.

"You can't win Klaw," Moon Knight said in a voice reminiscent of someone who's smoked their entire life, "I'm the goddamn Batman!"

"Yep, definitely needs to see a therapist," Beast muttered as he attacked Klaw yet again.

Meanwhile, Quicksilver was racing Whirlwind down the street, as Scarlet Witch struggled to even stay close to them. Scarlet Witch's hands glowed as she activated her mutant power, the ability to change the likelihood of something happening.

Suddenly, Whirlwind tripped over a stick, and fell to the ground. Before the villain even hit the ground, Quicksilver registered his fall, turned around, and began to run so fast he created a vortex, similar to Whirlwind's.

"Sowho'sfastnow? Goingtogiveupbecauseyoucan'twin?" Quicksilver ran circles around Whirlwind, causing all the air to be sucked away from him.

"In—your—dreams—kid." Whirlwind struggled to breathe. In just half a minute, Wanda had caught up, and Whirlwind was unconscious.

"Good job, sister," Pietro turned to his sister, smiling for the first time in days.

Not too far away, Beast and Moon Knight, who constantly changed names and fighting styles, were easily ending their brawl with Klaw. The super genius had been struck many times and was on his knees. One last time, Beast clawed his sound wave face; effectively knocking out a being that couldn't fall unconscious.

"There, done," Beast said, finished.

"Not too shabby, Hank," Beast looked up to see his promised backup, the 'Pym Team.'

"It looks like you didn't need our help after all," Hank Pym, Yellowjacket, flew down to the ground, bug-sized, dressed in a yellow and black skin-tight suit, small wings fluttering so fast they seemed to vibrate. Hank was followed by Janet van Dyne, the Wasp, and Scott Lang, Ant-Man.

"Nope, Hank, we indeed didn't," Beast responded, noticing Quicksilver carrying the unconscious Whirlwind over his shoulder, approaching him with Scarlet Witch.

"Hank, it's good to see you," Pym said, growing to normal size and shaking Beast's hand.

"It's good to see you too, Hank," McCoy grinned.

"Okay, boys, enough 'we have the same name and are both nerds.' That can come later, after we save the world," Janet van Dyne said, as she took off her helmet and grew to normal size.

"Right," Both Hanks said simultaneously.

"Let's get going then," Scott Lang said, removing his helmet, and leading the two to an aircraft that was quickly lowering.

**Deep in the forest surrounding Wakanda, Late evening**

The SHIELD Quinjet landed quietly on the shore of a small lake, one of the only openings in the forest. Quickly and quietly, Captain America, Steve Rogers, and the Scarlet Spider, Brenda Reilly, got out of the jet. Similarly to how the other recruits had to change costumes, Brenda had put on a new costume. However, hers was exactly the same as her old one, now simply made with unstable molecules and with a SHIELD symbol on each of her shoulders.

The two heroes began to travel through the dense undergrowth, attempting to keep quiet so as to not alert any Wakandan guards who shoot first and ask questions later.

However, Spider could only keep silent for so long, "So, Cap… can I call you Cap? …This is pretty cool, huh? I mean, we're, like, teaming up and going all stealthy and…"

"What is 'stealthy' about this conversation," Cap scolded.

"Um…" Spider tried to think of a proper response, "I'll shut up now."

The two trudged through the terrain. Suddenly, Scarlet Spider's spider sense went off, "Cap, get down!"

The female hero tackled Cap to the ground, right as a spear sailed over where his head once was.

After hitting the ground, Cap hopped up and held is shield out towards where the spear had come from. Spider just looked around, ready for her spider-sense to activate again.

It did, but this time in many different directions, "Oh, God, Cap…we're surrounded."

The two looked around, as shadowy figures emerged from the undergrowth. One of them, clearly in charge, began to speak in a different language. The only words the two heroes could catch out, that seemed recognizable was, "Outsiders…" Cap muttered.

The group of chocolate-colored skinned people was dressed in minimal amounts of clothes. Their faces were painted a variety of colors. The leader pointed his spear at the two heroes, and then behind him.

"I think he wants us to follow him," Cap said.

"This is not good," Spider whined as two of the African guards searched them, one taking away Cap's shield.

The two did as they were told, and were eventually led to gigantic golden gates.

The leader shouted something and the gates slowly opened. They led Cap and Spider through the gates, which led to a startlingly beautiful city.

"Oh my God," Spider said in awe. The city was made entirely of bright, clean silver buildings. It looked almost like a smaller, cleaner New York City.

Except for the fact that right in the center of the city was a gigantic golden castle. The castle was adorned with a variety of animal shaped statues, most notably the many panther heads that popped up around it.

The leader led the heroes through the city, where all the people stopped and stared at them, the word, "Outsider," constantly muttered.

The two were led into the castle and then into a large throne room, where in a golden throne shaped like a panther, sat a large (in a muscular way) African man. He wore black robes, and his dark hair was cut short, with the head of a panther cut into the back of his head. Black tribal tattoos snaked down his body, depicting different gods and events.

The heroes were forced to the ground by two guards, each holding a spear with the blade made of a glowing blue metal.

The heroes' capturer said a few things to the man who was obviously the ruler of Wakanda, a man Captain America had encountered before.

The king of Wakanda, T'Challa, replied to the man in the same language, and the man left.

"Captain, you are an honorable man, one of the few outsiders I trust," T'Challa began, "What is it that you want?"

Captain America stepped up to speak, but was pushed to the ground again, "We've come here to request your city's help, T'Challa."

T'Challa quickly glanced at Spider, "And who is this 'we?'"

"She's Brenda Reilly, the Scarlet Spider, my friend," Cap explained.

"And why is it that you come into my city and request their help, something you know is forbidden by the laws of Wakanda?" T'Challa asked.

"The world is in danger, your majesty," Cap stated, "A threat unlike any other has come to our planet. He's disappeared for now, but we're positively sure he plans to destroy the planet."

"What?" the king shouted, shocked.

"Your majesty," An old man in white robes, who the two heroes hadn't noticed before, suddenly approached the throne, and spoke in perfect English, "You can't actually believe these outsiders? How do we know this isn't another one of their lies to take the sacred rock? And even if they speak the truth, it goes against The Old Wakandan Law to help them! Something you've already done once, which is bad enough!"

T'Challa suddenly looked at his hands, clearly confused, "I…you speak the truth, elder."

Cap suddenly looked slightly embarrassed, "Actually, that was the thing we really came for…the 'sacred rock,' vibranium. We need it to make weapons to fight this threat. Although the actual city's help would be great too."

"See, your majesty! They only wish to take Vi'Bera, our sacred rock, the thing on which our city was built and grew from! Our present from the Panther god, Bast!" The elder exclaimed.

"I…I'm sorry, Captain, but I can not break the law of Wakanda again. I will let you go, but we will not help. Wakanda will defend only itself," T'Challa said, and the two guards dragged Cap and Spider off the floor and to their feet, and began to lead them to the door.

"Stop, T'Challa! I've helped you before! We need your city and the vibranium to defeat Thanos!" Cap shouted, and suddenly everyone of the Wakandan's in that room stopped.

"Thanos…" T'Challa repeated, "It couldn't be…"

"Well, then, your majesty," the elder began, "This is further proof we can fight this threat on our own. The prophecy decrees it."

"Prophecy…?" Spider, who had been too scared to talk this entire time, spoke up.

T'Challa stepped off his throne, and spoke to the guards, "We must take them to the temple. Show them the prophecy. Then they will know all will be well."

The two heroes were led by T'Challa, who surprisingly let Cap have his shield back, to a large ancient-looking temple made of stone. It was shaped like a large hut, and a statue that was the size of Shaquille O'Neal was right in the center of it. The statue was made of orange stone, like the temple, and looked like a reptilian human. Swirly lined were engraved into the shoulders of the statue, and seemed to be tattoos. A glowing crimson gem stuck in the statue's chest was the only source of bright color.

Behind the statue was a gigantic wall, with ancient paintings scrolled all over it. They depicted different scenes: a dragon-man, Spider guessed the statue, crashed into Wakanda; a golden gauntlet, six glowing gems encased in it; a large cloaked purple man floating above a burning Wakanda, the gauntlet on his hand; the dragon-man fighting the purple man; and more.

"That's Thanos. And that's the gauntlet he was wearing," Cap pointed to the drawings, "How do you have…?"

"This is the temple of our god of power, prophecy, and dragons, Dracili'ohawara. The closest translation in your language would be Drax the Destroyer," the elder said, grinning at the paintings, "Legend foretells that a thousand years ago, Dracili, or Drax, crashed into Wakanda. He told the elders to prepare for the demon that was to come, Thanos. He spoke of an Ifula Eowaru, or an Infinity Gauntlet. Thanos, he said, would use the gauntlet to attack Wakanda. He then fell asleep, but prophecy foretells he will awaken again when Thanos comes, to defeat the monster and defend Wakanda!"

Spider looked back and forth at the statue and then at the paintings, "So, what about that gem on his chest? It looks like in the paintings Thanos has similar ones on his Infinity-what'cha ma' call it."

This time T'Challa spoke, "That is the power gem. There are five others that make up the Infinity Gauntlet: the mind gem, reality gem, time gem, space gem, and the spirit gem."

"You said he's the god of prophecy? How exactly did he predict all this? And how do you know he'll defeat Thanos? It seems that one gem vs. five, five wins," Spider said.

"I…" the elder began, "…he's the god of prophecy! He can naturally see the future! And our ancestors said he would defeat Thanos! He has power!"

Scarlet Spider shook her head, "I don't think you're right, about any of that. Well, maybe your ancestors said he would win…but this Drax guy…he's got to be an alien. That's what Thanos clearly is. And I don't think he could predict the future, I think he had someone predict it for him. I mean, power and prophesy? They don't go together. And him defeating Thanos…no…I don't care what your people say. He's going to lose. Now I'm sure more than ever you need our help and we need yours," Spider showed her natural aptitude for being, well, smart, something she got from her 'brother.'

"No! That is treason! King, please have these outsiders killed, as we should have done when they first arrived!" The elder screamed.

"I…" T'Challa didn't know what to do. Luckily for him, he didn't have to do anything.

Suddenly, the sky opened up into a large dark portal, and out came Thanos, his warship still stationed above New York. Three gems now glowed in his gauntlet.

Cap, Spider, T'Challa, and the elder all looked up.

"Oh dear lord, help me," Cap prayed. And it seemed right as Thanos crossed through the portal and into Earth, the ground began to shake. The four people looked to the statue of the 'dragon-god', which began to crack open. And suddenly out burst a dragon-man, completely nude. He looked exactly like the statue, except his skin was green and the tattoos were crimson-red, like the power gem in his chest.

The dragon-god-person, who was obviously Drax the Destroyer, looked to the sky and growled.

"Thanos!" he shouted as two blades burst out of thin air into his clawed hands.

"Lord Dracili!" The elder shouted, but was ignored. Drax burst into the air, flying right towards Thanos.

"Ah…so you're the next Watchmen. How lucky of me to find you so soon…it almost seems like…destiny," Thanos grinned and began to fly towards Drax.

Everyone below prepared for impact…

**New York, New York, 11:30 PM**

Richard Rider slumped back on the couch, watching TV. It was another late night for his mom. Both of them had to work three jobs because of the economy.

On the News it was replaying footage from the previous day of the mysterious alien invader, Thanos. After hours of fear and anger and Thanos having disappeared, the New Yorkers had been let back into the city to work. Nothing could really scare them, not after what they'd gone through this previous year. Even a giant alien warship wasn't really scary.

Richard groaned, turning off the TV. He longed to be in that life…that superhuman life. It would be something to get away from his everyday troubles…his dad dying, his mom never being home, raising himself, girl issues, failing classes, ect.

Richard sighed, grabbed his phone and keys, and left the house.

He walked through the city, past a graveyard where Ghost Rider had been frequently sighted, past Midtown Junior High's playground that had been rebuilt after a meteor crash, past Times Square, where just above a warship floated…past all these superhuman things. Past all these extraordinary things. Things that had nothing to do with him.

Richard sighed and eventually sat down on a bench in a park not too far from his house. He looked at the time on his phone, 11:59:53. 11:59:57. 11:59:59.

Suddenly his phone's screen lit up from a message from his mom, _Happy 16__th__ Birthday, Rich! I love you and will be home with a cake in an hour!_

"Oh, right, today's my birthday…" Richard Rider, now 16, muttered.

_Well, my mom's bringing a cake. Yay. _Rich thought sarcastically. Rich took a deep breath and looked at the ground.

_Damn it…all I really want for my birthday is…is to be different…to be extraordinary!_

And right overhead, way up in the sky, something…or someone was flying right towards Rich, ready to make his birthday wish come true.

But not necessarily in a good way.

**Note: I hope you enjoyed it! I thought it was much better than the previous chapter! Alright things you need to know…**

**Scarlet Spider- Yeah, she's a girl. She's my Ben Reilly. She's also got a big role to play in this story. Her costume is Kaine's Scarlet Spider costume.**

**Quicksilver- In my universe he starts out as a Brotherhood member and then an X-Man. He stays there for a while. And yes, I made him a douche, because he is. His X-Men costume is based off of the X-Men evolution costume. His SHIELD one is his Ultimate costume.**

**Scarlet Witch- Same as Pietro story-wise. 'Cept she's nice. Her X-Men uniform is based off her modern 616 costume. Her SHIELD uniform is based off of Ultimate, obviously. Also a note about her and her brother…they aren't incestuous in this! That's just weird!**

**Beast- X-Men costume is his Astonishing X-Men one from Joss Whedon's run. His SHIELD costume is one I made up, based of Quicksilver's and Wanda's and his X-Men one. Quick note, he's in his early twenties. Obviously, if you can't tell, my universe is like X-Men Evo in that I make everyone younger.**

**Wolverine- X-Men costume is his modern costume. SHIELD costume is his X-Force costume.**

**Black Panther- Didn't explore much about him here, but I will! Tattoos are an important part of his design so pay attention to that!**

**Wakanda- Yeah, I mixed 616 with my own ideas and I think it's turning out well. More will be fleshed out in chapters of other stories.**

**Richard Rider- I've changed quite a bit of him, from his dad being dead, to his personality….somewhat. He is VERY important! More of him next chapter!**

**Other- I hinted at a bunch of previous hints! I hope you caught them all!**

**Next Chapter- Fury started out the idea he had of recruiting villains to help save the world, and creates a separate division of Avengers: The Thunderbolts! Thanos and Drax duke it out! More assembling! More action! More awesomeness!**

**Title- Day 3: Against a Common Threat**


	3. Against A Common Threat

**Note: Review…seriously! **

**Cover- Thanos engaging Drax, Captain America, Scarlet Spider and Black Panther.**

**The Triskelion, December 22, 2012, 11:05 PM**

Nick Fury, director of S.H.I.E.L.D., strode through the prison directly below the Triskelion. He was followed by three S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who recently finished cleaning up New York: Clint Barton aka Hawkeye, Barbara "Bobbi" Morse aka Mockingbird, and Phil Coulson aka Phil Coulson.

The director of S.H.I.E.L.D. arrived at his destination: the warden's office. After briefly stating the password and having his fingerprints checked, he was allowed into the office. Director Fury dismissed the Warden to numerous questions. Then, Fury calmly strode up to the Warden's speaker system.

"You sure about this?" Clint asked.

"Absolutely," Fury activated the speaker system and began, "Greetings inmates. As I'm sure you can tell, I am Nick Fury, director of SHIELD. You are a number of the most dangerous super-criminals this world has ever seen. For the crimes you have committed, you have been sentenced to, at the very least, fifty-years in prison. Now, you're about to get a chance to redeem yourself for your past misdeeds."

Almost a hundred yards away a certain Carl Lucas sat up in his cell, intrigued. He'd been born into a good family but after a few mistakes he ended up in a genetic experiment under the authority of the organization HYDRA to create their own Hulk. After fighting the actual Hulk, Luke was injured and brought into custody by SHIELD. All he'd ever thought about since coming here was getting a chance to redeem himself.

So, you can imagine when he heard Director Fury's words that he got a little excited.

"The world is in danger. Any of you who so wish can get a chance to cut off a little of your sentence if you join us. Any of you who attempt to deceive us will be terminated. We need your help. The world needs your help," Fury finished and exited the office, numerous SHIELD agents already moving throughout the prison looking for any potential candidates.

When Agent Barton arrived at Carl Lucas' cell, Carl ran over to the bars and said, "I'm in!"

"Whoa, there. Slow down a little, fella. Don't get too excited," Clint waved his hands, attempting to calm the man down. Clint then motioned for Carl to come closer. Carl squeezed his bulky arm through the adamtium bars on his cell and Clint injected something into his arm.

"Ow! 'The hell was that?" Carl asked.

"Doesn't matter." Clint opened Carl's cell and motioned for the powerful ex-criminal to follow him.

Clint checked a few more villains' cells, all of the answers 'no,' then he led Luke to a wide, closed off room with large steel doors and no windows.

When Carl entered the room he noticed only four other ex-villains were there. Fury was already in the room standing in front of the small team of villains, flanked by Clint, Bobbi, Phil and a few other SHIELD agents.

"I guess this is all…it'll have to do," Fury grimaced.

"All of the others hate you too much to even begin to think of working for you," Abner Jenkins said honestly.

"The feelings are mutual," Fury grimly responded and then began to list off, "Melissa Gold aka Screaming Mimi. Abner Jenkins aka the Beetle. Erik Josten aka Power Man…"

"Nice name," Carl muttered to himself and smirked.

"…Maxwell Markham aka Grizzly. And last but not least, Carl Lucas aka nothing."

"Your name is nothing?" Erik Josten turned to Luke and laughed.

"No. My name is Carl Lucas. But if it was Nothing it would be a hell of a lot better than **Power Man**," Luke replied.

"Shut up you two," Bobbi commanded, shaking her head in frustration.

The two did as they were told and Fury started out again, "Now that we're back in progress, welcome to the…"

"RRRRAAGGGHHH!" The up-until-now-silent Maxwell Markham, Grizzly, charged at Fury.

With a flick of Fury's hand and the click of a button Maxwell was not only on the ground, but on the ceiling, the walls and the other people in the room.

"Disgusting…" Clint wiped some goor off of him.

"Less so than my mother's chili pie," Coulson stated.

Clint, confused, turned and looked at his fellow SHIELD agent, "Was that a joke?"

Phil didn't reply.

"Phil! Agent Coulson? Was that a joke? Did you just make a joke?"

"Shut it, Barton," Fury growled.

"Yes, sir." Clint stood up straight and looked at the awed and goory ex-criminals.

"Now you see we weren't joking. We have implanted a bomb inside you and you will be terminated if you do not follow orders or if you attempt to betray us," Fury stated. All the criminals still looked forward, eyes wide.

"Well, you four are now a separate team of Avengers, but you will do the things the Avengers can't, go the places they can't. You will have to go undercover. Your current identities will cease to exist. From now on you are nobodies. You are faceless, unknown heroes. From now on you are…"

"Thunderbolts!"

"Who are the Avengers?" Carl whispered to Melissa Gold, who was standing next to him.

"Don't know."

"Should we know?"

"Don't know."

"…Great."

**INFINITE AVENGERS**

**Day 3: Against a Common Threat**

**Wakanda, December 23, 2012, 1:12 AM**

Thanos the World Breaker floated above the incoming Drax, simply smirking, "Another of the Watch," he grabbed Drax, spun him around and threw him into a building, "I'll do this the old-fashioned way."

Down below the small crowd made up of Captain America, Scarlet Spider, T'Challa and a Wakandan Elder were arguing.

"He doesn't stand a chance! Just look at him!" Cap demanded much to the frustration of the elder.

"Our holy men have prophesized that Dracili would defeat the Demon, Thanos! It will come to pass!" The elder ignored the beginning of the fight between Drax and Thanos, in which it had begun badly for Drax.

T'Challa, unsure of to do, tried to make a point, "Captain, at first it seemed you spoke the truth. But look now! Drax is rising; he is using the Power Gem!"

And indeed the green-skinned Drax the Destroyer arose from the remnants of a building, the red crystal in his chest glowing a passionate crimson blaze.

"KILL THANOOOSSS!" Drax uttered a guttural roar and soared into the sky again, knives at the ready.

The two cosmic beings clashed, but yet again Drax was propelled into a building, this time via energy blasts.

"Well, at the very least evacuate the city. It's falling to pieces," Cap demanded, but to no avail.

"We will be saved. No one will die," The elder looked to T'Challa, practically begging him to challenge him just so he could put the young king down.

High above, Drax and Thanos clashed again. The Destroyer pushed through Thanos deadly eye blasts, his muscles pulsing, blood-colored energy rising off his skin like smoke. Drax managed to push all the way through the blast and landed a swift cut to Thanos armored thigh, however he did not injure the Avatar of Death.

"Hm…you are much feistier and more…primal than my last opponent. Your thirst for blood is extraordinary, if only you weren't a Watchman I may yet have let you join the ranks of those who shall live my massacre," Thanos lifted Drax over his head and threw him to the ground, attempting to entertain himself as he waited for more Watchmen to emerge.

On the temple steps the noble Captain America turned away from the ignorant elder and the man he helped to make king, and muttered a word he barely ever used, even on the worst occasions, "Damn! You've forced my hand, T'Challa!" Cap turned to his partner, Scarlet Spider, "Listen, Spider, I need you to get up there and get Drax to stop attacking Thanos before we have a dead cosmic-alien-god-or-whatever-he-is on our hands."

"On it," Spider simply responded before leaping into the air.

"What are you doing?" The elder cried.

"Saving a man who may actually know what's going on," Cap simply said, before turning to the sky and praying for the best.

In the air above Spider was swinging up the large Wakandan buildings, attempting to reach the clashing cosmic monsters.

"Man, they're way up there, aren't they?" Spider muttered as she examined the battle from the top of a building. Suddenly, Drax was thrown directly towards her. Using her keen spider-sense and fantastic agility, Scarlet Spider dodged the behemoth and managed to land on a nearby rooftop. Before Spider could say a word Drax jumped towards Thanos yet again.

"Crap. I'm actually going to have to go up there to get him…" Spider realized. She began to make herself a web-catapult. After finishing she prayed she wouldn't die this day and launched herself into the sky. However, she didn't quite reach her mark.

"No…No. No! NO! I CAN'T DIE! I CAN'T DIE! I CAN'T DIE!" She screamed as she fired a line of webbing towards the battling beings. "Please. Please. Please. Please. YES!" The webbing caught onto Thanos face, completely covering it. This distraction not only allowed Spider to swing up to Thanos' and Drax's level, but it also gave Drax enough time to land a good stab into Thanos' gut. Black blood surged from the wound, however, the deep cut closed almost immediately.

"I am the Avatar of Death, gifted with immortality! No blow or injury will fell me! I am unstoppable…" Thanos turned his head to Scarlet Spider, who was currently sticking to Thanos back, "…and no measly annoyance will distract me for I will squash that annoyance like a bug."

Thanos attempted to reach back and pull Spider off his back, as Drax, unable to fly, plummeted to the ground below.

"Yeah, you crazy super-villain people really need to start thinking up better threats. I mean, you're going to squash me? Like a bug? Totally stereotypical! Why not go with something simple like 'I'm going to rip you to pieces!' or even just 'I'm going to kill you!'" Spider quipped as she held on for dear life. Eventually however, Spider had to jump off of the attacking cosmic being, and she swung around him, using his leg like a building, "Also, big, purple and ugly, you really need to go shopping. That whole 'goth-avatar-of-death-grim-reaper thing is sooo last month." Spider swung above Thanos and pulled his dark hood over his face, blinding him. Thanos, however, simply blasted Spider away.

"Stupid bug," Thanos grimaced.

Drax lunged towards Thanos, through the air, but Spider, on her way to the ground, tackled Drax and held onto him, using him as cushion. After crashing through a building, Spider looked up and forced Drax to the ground, "Listen, Destroyer dude, you need to stop now. You're getting your butt kicked out there! And quoting one of the greatest movies of all time, 'Come with me if you want to live.'"

Drax simply pushed Spider to the side, however, and sprung through the air towards The Mad Titan screaming, "DRAX DESTROY THANOS!"

Spider shook her head, "He's crazy. A totally crazy, blood thirsty, oddly hot dragon-god-alien named Drax."

Spider hopped back to the ground to Captain America, "No go, Cap. He's coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs."

"What?" Cap gave Spider a dumbfounded expression.

"He's crazy," Scarlet Spider explained, "Like out-of-his-mind crazy. It's like he's been hard wired to want to kill Thanos."

Captain America sighed and simply turned back to the two Wakandans, "Alright, I'm going to put this bluntly, T'Challa: your city is burning. You need to evacuate it. We, or should I say Drax, is fighting a losing battle against an invincible cosmic god. Evacuate Wakanda now."

"I…if we do, the city will surely be destroyed," T'Challa replied, much to the approval of the elder.

"If you don't, there will be no people left to live in this city," Cap made his point and hushed the elder before he could speak again, "It's your move, T'Challa. This is your city, your country."

T'Challa briefly looked at the ground, before looking back up, fire in his eyes, "The city needs to be evacuated. Shush," T'Challa said before the elder could speak, "Spread the word. We are abandoning Wakanda."

The elder ran off and T'Challa turned to the two American heroes, "I have to go help evacuate the city, but I will be back…" The kind of Wakanda ran off without another word.

Cap smiled, the situation slightly better, and he activated the communicator in his helmet, "General Fury, this is Captain America, over. We have a situation in Wakanda, code black. I repeat, code black."

Captain America nodded his head a few times, responding to the voice on the other side of the line, "Alright, thank you General. Captain America, out."

"So, what's the deal?" Scarlet Spider asked.

"We're getting reinforcements. Fury says they'll be here in T-Minus five," Cap explained.

"That means…"

"Five minutes."

"Right. 'Knew that."

"In the meantime we have to help evacuate the city," Captain America said, "You swing around and help pick people up, and pull them out of the line of fire. I'll lead them out."

The two began their jobs but shortly into them they heard a deafening howl and they looked up. Drax was being held by his neck, choking out. Thanos, a sadistic grin on his face, ripped out the Power Gem on Drax's chest. Blood spurted everywhere and the Destroyer screamed in agony. Thanos simply let him go, and Drax fell to the ground below.

Cap turned to Scarlet Spider, who was hanging from a building above, "Spider, go catch him!"

"Aye aye, Cap'n," Spider swung over to the falling alien and grabbed onto him, holding tight. She looked down at his wound, but instantly regretted doing so. It was disgusting. His chest was practically ripped open. Torn muscle and tissue were apparent, and thankfully no bone was in sight.

Spider gently let Drax onto the ground. She pulled off her mask, exposing a young, scared face.

Captain America ran over, expecting the worst.

"Is he…"

"I dunno. Haven't checked yet," Spider hurriedly checked his pulse, "Still alive. Barely. He needs help now."

Suddenly a loud intercom could be heard over the crumbling buildings and the screaming, "S.H.I.E.L.D. One to Captain America and Scarlet Spider, reinforcements have arrived."

"Thank God," Captain America grinned.

"Thank General/Director Nick Fury," Spider said, already gently swinging the injured Drax over to the air craft.

High above in the S.H.I.E.L.D. Quinjet, the four newly outfitted Thunderbolts stood at the ready, General Fury, Hawkeye, and Mockingbird standing behind them.

"We're supposed to take him down? That big purple dude?" Luke Cage asked, a mixture of excitement and fear on his face.

"Yes," General Fury replied, "Or at least stall him long enough until more reinforcements arrive."

"Gotcha."

Melissa Gold, once Screaming Mimi but now Songbird, flicked her white and pink highlights to the side, "Thunderbolts, move out."

The team plunged from the sky towards the cosmic threat. They'd all gone over massive makeovers. The newly christened Songbird now had long hair, now dyed with both pink and white highlights. Her uniform was drastically different, a blue and white S.H.I.E.L.D. suit padded with golden armor, a single pink gem embedded over her heart.

Ex-Beetle, now Mach V, Abner Jenkins was in the S.H.I.E.L.D. Mach V armor based off Iron Man's. It had been created by Hank Pym to be a better, faster version of Iron Man's suit. It was faster, but not better. The suit was almost entirely silver other than a few black spots here and there. Silver wings and a jetpack helped stabilize flight on his back and he saw through a red visor on the helmet.

Erik Josten, now Atlas, wore a brown spandex suit, a white A on the front. He had a small headpiece and his once long blonde hair was now dyed brown and cut into a buzz.

And lastly, Carl Lucas took no nickname, preferring to go by a new name: Luke Cage. He had completely shaved his head and instead of a uniform he simply wore a yellow shirt, black cargo pants and combat boots.

Luke took the first shot, using the force of his fall to launch a massively powerful punch to Thanos' face. However, immediately after doing so he was blasted away by Thanos' atomic heat vision.

Meanwhile Spider was dropping off the injured Drax onto the Quinjet.

"Who is this?" Fury asked.

"A man with answers. Don't let him die," Spider hopped off the high-tech jet and plummeted to the ground below.

Suddenly, Fury got a call on his communicator, "Yes?"

"General, we have to get out of here now," Captain America responded from the other end of the line, "This is a losing battle."

"We can't, Steve, this may be our one chance to take down the son of a bitch before he gets too powerful," Fury replied.

"He already is too powerful. Unless you want-"

"Stop talking and start fighting, soldier. That's an order," Fury commanded and Cap reluctantly hung up. General and Director Fury turned to Hawkeye and Mockingbird, who were both in uniform, "Get down there now. Back up Captain America and do anything he says."

"Yes, sir," Mockingbird and Hawkeye replied in unison. The two jumped out of the plane and parachuted to the ground below.

High above ground level, The Thunderbolts were having a bang up time fighting Thanos.

"AAAGGGHHH" Atlas cried out in pain as he was knocked onto a building, completely crushing it, by a large blast of golden energy protruding from Thanos' hands.

"How dare you weaklings fight me! You stand no chance again Thanos, the Avatar of Death!" Thanos shouted.

"We'll just see about that…Thunderbolts, attack at once!" Songbird ordered. Using her pink, sound-energy wings she flew towards Thanos, already creating a sound hammer.

Mach V readied everything he had to blast Thanos.

Luke crouched slightly, preparing to jump all the way up to Thanos to deliver a blow he'd never forget.

Atlas pushed himself off the ground and prepared a massive backhand to Thanos.

"ATTACK!" Songbird cried and the Thunderbolts did as they were told. All of them attacked at once, giving everything they had.

You couldn't spot Thanos in the midst of their attack, and the Thunderbolts prayed it was enough to fell the cosmic powerhouse…

…It wasn't.

Thanos emerged from the destruction, virtually unscathed.

"I am invulnerable, immortal. That is my curse. One I use wisely," Thanos simply blasted the four of them away. None of them had the strength to get back up. None but…

_Luke Cage!_

The man with skin as hard as steel stood, unwilling to give up. Scarlet Spider swung over to Luke and quipped, "So, who are you? Black Hulk?"

Luke gave Spider the evil eye, "Bad joke, huh? Yeah, it was just a tad racist."

"Don't care 'bout that. Only 'bout kicking this guy's ass."

"Me too. Let's go!" Spider and Luke engaged Thanos, much to the pleasure of the endlessly powerful being.

And down below the battle, Hawkeye and Mockingbird landed directly by Captain America.

"So, what's the plan, Cap? How are we supposed to take this guy?" Hawkeye asked, praying their ever-brave leader had an answer.

"I don't know."

"Well, I do."

The three of the heroes turned around and were happy to see T'Challa. But he was T'Challa, king of Wakanda, no longer. Now, dressed in black-as-night Panther-styled clothing, he was none other than the Black Panther!

Black Panther carried with him numerous weapons.

"Your shield may be strong, Captain, but it won't deal any serious damage to Thanos' nearly impervious skin. Use this," Black Panther tossed Cap a silver pistol, one of the only of its kind in Wakanda.

"It has vibranium bullets. Only two dozen, so use them wisely." Panther then held out a quiver, with presumably vibranium arrows in it, "I'm assuming you will take these vibranium arrows, Archer?"

"It's Hawkeye and yeah, it'll be my pleasure to rip Thanos' face off with those things," Hawkeye grinned as he tossed his quiver to the ground and put on the new one.

"And lastly, take this," Black Panther handed a machine gun over to Mockingbird.

"Thanks," Mockingbird began, "But what are you going to use?"

"These," silver claws popped out of Panther's suit with the flick of his wrist.

"Whoa. Totally cool," Mockingbird said in awe.

"Mmhmm," Hawkeye agreed.

"Alright, then. Hawkeye, Mockingbird, find the tallest building you can that isn't destroyed and get on the rooftop. You'll give Black Panther and I cover fire as we directly confront Thanos along with Scarlet Spider and this…_new guy_," Cap looked towards Luke Cage, who just rammed shoulder-first into Thanos.

"Got it," Hawkeye said, a excited grin on his face.

"Yessir," Mockingbird replied.

"Alright, then, Avengers it's time to save the world," And the duo of non-powered heroes did as they were told, military training helping everything go smoothly.

Captain America then turned his head to Black Panther. The Wakandan hero nodded his head in a silent reply and the two ran off to engage Thanos.

"You know, I officially think I'm the luckiest person alive," Scarlet Spider declared as she dodged a fatal blast, "I mean, sure I've got a spider-sense and super agility but I mean, c'mon, I've been fighting this Thanos dude longer than anybody and I'm still pretty much fine other than a couple'a broken ribs and a few scrapes."

"Do you always talk this much? ARRGGHH!" Luke asked as he was knocked to the side by Thanos' fist.

"Do I always talk this much argh? I don't quite get what'cha mean. What's an argh? Kidding," Spider tried to web Thanos face but to no avail, "I only talk this much when I'm in a life and death situation and am trying not pee my very nice, new, S.H.I.E.L.D. su…AAGGHH!" Spider screamed as Thanos grabbed her neck and prepared to blast her head off with his heat rays. But at the last second, a blur of red, white and blue connected with Thanos' hand, making him drop Scarlet Spider.

"I'd keep a little distance if I were you, Spider," Captain America grimly said as he caught his boomeranging shield.

"Yeah, I'll keep that in mind," Spider replied, landing on a building by Cap spider-style.

Luke Cage quickly hopped over to the small group of heroes, "What's the plan?"

"Attack," Cap grimly responded.

"Got it. So by attack do you mean 'get our asses kicked?'" Luke replied, already preparing to jump at Thanos again.

"No, I mean 'try not to die.'" Cap said, completely serious.

"Y'know, you can shut me up if I'm wrong but shouldn't we be trying to kick the crazy alien terrorist guy's butt and not talking about dying because he's about to start ignoring us, and start killing all those Wakandans running away," Spider stated.

"She's right. Get going, soldiers," Cap ordered. The team all jumped into the air at once; Scarlet Spider swung towards Thanos on a web-line, Cap and Panther started to climb and jump over wreckage to reach Thanos, and Luke just jumped straight towards the Mad Titan.

However, Thanos targeted Cap and Panther, and prepared to blow them to smithereens.

"Hey, cock-sucker, get a load of this!"

Thaos turned his head right as a vibranium arrow reached him. The arrow pierced his forehead, right in between his eyes.

"Head shot, bitch," Hawkeye grinned, thinking it was over.

"Arrow-guy, watch he can regenerate!" Spider cried.

"My name isn't Arrow-guy, it's…"

_BOOM!_

The building blew up below Hawkeye, and the Archer disappeared beneath the rubble. Thanos rose his head slowly, ripped out the arrow and healed, having just fired a burst of energy at the building on which Hawkeye stood.

"NO!" Mockingbird cried from an adjacent roof. She began to unload all she had on the Mad Titan.

Vibranium bullets pierced Thanos' skin, but all the bullet holes healed in seconds, the bullets popping out of the wounds.

"Pitiful humans, do you not understand that you are beneath me?" Thanos asked.

"Understand this!" Luke, hurtling through the air, tackled Thanos and held him till he hit the ground.

"Is that the best you could do to hurt me, human?" Thanos stood up, grabbing Luke by the throat all the while, "You seem to be impervious to some attack, but not everything, mortal."

Thanos eyes glowed crimson and Luke prepared for the end.

"Sonuvabitch thinks he can kill the new guy…"

An arrow pierced Thanos' hand, causing the Mad Titan to drop Cage.

"…And thinks he can kill me!"

Hawkeye walked out from the broken building he previously stood on, "Y'know, _Thanos_, it seems you can't die, right? But that doesn't mean you don't feel pain."

"What in the hell are you…AGGHH!" Thanos cried as an arrow cleaved right through his chest. Two more followed. The one in his right knee, another in his left ankle.

"Us 'pitiful humans' won't go down without a fight…" Hawkeye grinned as he fired arrow after arrow into the Mad Titan's body.

"You die now…"

"Ain't that right, Cap?"

Captain America fired six shots into Thanos' skull.

"Absolutely right, son," Cap agreed.

Black Panther hopped onto Thanos and impaled him with his claws, "This is for Wakanda!"

Scarlet Spider swung down from a building and kicked Thanos in the face, "And this is for making me cancel my manicure!"

The Mad Titan did not waver, however, "You all dare try to anger the mighty Thanos, Avatar of Death?"

"Whaddya think we've been doing this entire time?" Luke Cage grinned as he jumped seemingly out of nowhere and pummeled Thanos in the jaw, right as Mockingbird landed on the ground beside Hawkeye, blasting holes into Thanos chest.

"AARRGGHH! I was simply going to kill you, but now I will torture you, make you watch your world die!" Thanos raised two fists into the sky and energy flowed from his body, knocking everyone unconscious. Everyone except…

"You won't get away with this…" Cap fought against the darkness overcoming him.

"You are a tough one, human, I give you that. Your will is strong but that won't stop me…"

"Your world will burn."

Cap struggled to stand, collapsing a few times before making it to his feet, "And…if that's true…if we can't save the world…you can be damn-well sure we'll avenge it."

"You dare still stand against me?"

"Yeah, he dares," Thanos was blasted back by a burst of blue energy.

"The cavalry has arrived," Iron Man floated to the ground, followed by Thor, Wasp, Ant Man, Yellowjacket, the Scarlet Witch and a healed Human Torch. Hulk crashed onto the ground a second after, Wolverine and Quicksilver on his shoulders. Thing copied the Green Goliath. Beast simply landed on the ground with a silent plop as his parachute folded back into a backpack he wore.

"Interesting design…folding back into itself…" Beast quietly murmured.

Thanos stood up, maybe fifty yards away from the heroes, "You, like your allies, will have the pleasure of watching Earth burn."

"What_ever_," Wasp sassily replied.

"So, Cap…" Iron Man began.

"Avengers…go!"

"Really? '_Avengers Go'?_ You really need to think up a better battle cry," Johnny Storm quipped as the assembled heroes flew into battle.

"This. Is. It. Enough!" Thanos cried, activating for the first time that day his Infinity Gauntlet. All the heroes froze in place.

"I planned to toy with you, to give you longer to live, to give you hope. But enough is enough. You have tested my wrath! We will battle no longer. You will live to see another day, heroes, but only so that you may watch as your world is destroyed," Thanos finished.

And, in a bright flash of purple light, Thanos was gone.

All the heroes unfroze but stopped what they were doing.

"What has happened? Where is giant?" Thor questioned.

"I don't know…" Tony Stark, Hank Pym and Hank McCoy replied in unison.

"Why'd he let us go?" The Thing asked no one in particular.

"…And where'll he appear next?" Ant Man, Scott Lang, finished.

" 'Can't smell 'im," Wolverine said, "He's really gone."

"**Not fair! Hulk want to smash puny Space Man!"**

**The Triskelion, Some Time Later**

"Damn it, Fury! You had your god damn agent say there would be no Hulk! But what's the first thing you do when I get on a Quinjet with you people? You make me go Hulk and drop me in the middle of a warzone!" Bruce Banner chewed out the head of S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Banner, there was nothing else to do. The Hulk was needed. The Hulk _is _needed," Fury replied, completely calm.

"He's not a weapon! I'm not a weapon!" Banner shouted back.

"You're right. He's a hero. 'Hate to say it, and most people won't agree with me, but he's a hero. And the world needs all of its heroes to come together against this man, Thanos, someone much more than a common threat," Fury turned his back to Banner, "But it's still your choice. You can choose to sit still and watch as the world and everyone you love is destroyed or you can fight back…with the Hulk."

"I…" And Bruce Banner stood there, not knowing what to say as General Fury left the room.

**XXXX**

Not too far away from where Bruce Banner and Nick Fury were arguing was the hospital wing. And currently that hospital wing was filled to the brim.

There was the everyday injured S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel, and then there were the Avengers. Almost half the team was doped up on meds and asleep in a bed. A lone, green-skinned man, Drax, lay in one of those beds.

"How is he?" Scarlet Spider, already healed thanks to a healing factor, stood over the space man.

"Not good," Donald Blake, the mortal host of Thor, replied. He'd become Drax's personal doctor pretty much because Nick Fury said so. He was very good at his job and S.H.I.E.L.D. needed all the help they could get.

"He might live. He might not. I'm very unsure right now. Thankfully, his physiology is almost exactly like a human's. It's strange…but amazing!" Don exclaimed.

"Speaking of Strange, where is he? I called him and he said he'd come to help but he still isn't here," Tony Stark entered the room in surprisingly relaxed clothing: a T-Shirt and sweat pants.

"Speak of the devil and he shall appear."

"What the hell?"

Dr. Strange floated in mid-air, legs criss-cross-apple-sauce and his hands in that weird position with his index finger, pinky finger and thumb all sticking out, while the rest of his fingers were tight against his hand, reminiscent of a 'Rock' hand sign.

The Sorcerer Supreme was dressed in slim blue robes, red markings encircling them.

"You called for me." Dr Stranger bluntly stated, "I assume this is about that Thanos fellow."

Tony nodded his head, as the other heroes watched on, "Yes, but more than that. I was wondering if you could use your—man I hate to say this—magic to heal this guy right here…we need him." Tony motioned to the unconscious Drax.

"I see…" The Sorcerer stood from his floating position and approached the Destroyer. He set his hand gently on Drax's forehead and it glowed a gentle crimson color. Suddenly, Strange jerked back.

"What? What is it?" Spider asked.

"This man…he is tainted. His soul is black and his body is immune to my magic. There is nothing I can do," Strange sadly replied.

"I…" Spider for once had nothing to say.

"All we can do is pray now," Strange said.

"You believe in God?" Tony looked incredulously at the Sorcerer Supreme.

"Is it so ridiculous that there is a higher being than ourselves after all we have seen these past few years?" Dr. Strange replied.

"You…" Stark looked at the ground, "Damn, that's a good argument."

"So, uh," Don started but was interrupted by the door bursting open.

Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm ran into the room, gasping for air.

"You guys have to see this," Johnny grabbed the hospital TV remote from the side of Drax's bed and turned the TV on. The very first thing on the screen was a new channel. Thanos was floating above a large island facility, every gem on the Infinity Gauntlet glowing intensely. The island was ravaged, broken into pieces. Tiny people could be seen fleeing from the seen. Some were flying…without any tech.

The title below the screen read, "URGENT NEWS: THANOS FREES NUMEROUS SUPERVILLAINS FROM THE RAFT."

"Holy shit," Tony muttered.

The screen switched back to a news anchor's face, "Breaking news. We'v just heard a report that not only the Raft, but every single supervillain prison in the world has seemingly fallen apart. The locks on every one of the criminal's cells were unlocked and now massive amounts of supervillains are fleeing throughout the world."

"Wait, isn't there a super-prison in the Triskelion?" Spider muttered.

"Yes, there is," Nick Fury strode into the room, "We're in deep shit. We have to evacuate the Triskelion."

"Dear God…What are we going to do? And what exactly is Thanos after?" Don asked.

"We have the answers your looking for."

All heads turned to where they heard a strange voice calling, right outside the window.

Outside, floating in mid-air was a…space ship!

The voice came from inside the ship, speaking through a speaker system.

"What in the…" Fury began but stopped as the ship's top opened up.

From inside the ship a team of odd individuals stood up. All of them wore matching red and blue uniforms. One looked like a living tree. Another, a short and stout raccoon. There was a bald woman on board, moon-shaped earrings pierced into her ears. Then there was a man with long red, white and blue hair. And lastly, someone who appeared to be a man, dressed from head to toe in the uniform, with an odd helmet that seemed to have a metal blue cap on the top with a golden star on the front.

"We are the Guardians of the Galaxy. And we know what Thanos is planning."

**New York City, New York, 12:00-ish AM**

Richard Rider's life changed in approximately sixty seconds.

If he'd just stood up from the bench he was sitting on in the middle of a park somewhere in New York City and gone home to his sweet, hard-working mom and cake he would still be a normal kid, with normal problems, and not stuck in the middle of an intergalactic conflict between the heroes of Earth and an immensely powerful cosmic being.

But Richard didn't go home. He sat there on that bench and moped. He moped until…he noticed that star he had been wishing on was heading right for him!

"What the hell?" Richard murmured, slightly mesmerized by the meteor. The weird part was…it didn't seem like a meteor. It seemed almost like a person.

About the time when that thought crossed his mind was when Richard realized he needed to run.

"Oh, shit! Shitshitshitshitshitshit!" Richard cursed as he ran farther and farther away.

_BOOM!_

The meteor crashed, and thankfully Richard was unscathed. The teen turned back to where he had been sitting previously. Where a park bench once was, now was a huge crater, a meteor—no, Rich was right—a person laying in the middle of it, bleeding profusely from wounds scattered over his armored blue and gold body. The armor seemed to almost glow.

Rich's Good Samaritan instincts kicked in and he ran over the injured alien. He kneeled beside it.

"Oh my God…I…Are you alright? No, that was a stupid question. Um…I…I'll go get help, an ambulance!" Rich started to stand up but the alien grabbed Rich's shoulder and pulled him back down, his grip surprisingly firm.

"No…stay! I do not have much *cough*time. Listen, Richard Rider, and listen well…" The alien said.

"You…you know my name?" Rich replied, confused.

"Yes…Just as I know you are a kind, strong-willed, brave boy…a perfect fit for the rank of Nova Prime…*cough*" The alien struggled to breathe.

"…What…what are you talking about?"

"…Just listen, Richard…Take this gem…" The alien placed a small green gem into Rich's hand, "Guard it with your life…The *cough* helmet will tell you all…You must trust it…but most of all...trust in yourselllfff…" And with those final words the alien died. The armor on his body glowed intensely for a second, before disappearing altogether. All that was left on the corpse was the golden helmet, a red star positioned on it.

"…He said the helmet would tell me all." Richard gently took the helmet off the alien's head, to expose a surprisingly human-like face. Richard held the helmet up and examined it.

"Whatever that means…I mean, it's not like helmet's can talk….AGGHH!" Richard screamed as he put the helmet on his head. Thousands of images flooded his mind, and suddenly, as the alien, Richard now knew his name to be Rhomann Dey, said, the helmet told him all.

A peace-keeping force: the Nova Corps, fought for justice in the galaxy. The leader, the Nova Prime, Rhomann Dey, was a member of the Infinity Watch. One day, the Corps were destroyed by Thanos, a friend of the Nova Prime…the entire Xandar cluster destroyed…ravaged by the Mad Titan.

Eventually, the images stopped, and Richard looked at his world in a whole different light. Earth was just one small planet in trillions. But Earth…his Earth…was now in danger. And he was going to stop that danger, save the planet, as the Nova Prime. As _Nova_!

And then it hit Rich…he was a superhero…he was more than that, sure, a cosmic peace-keeper…but he was still a superhero.

"Yes!" Richard cried as he suddenly rocketed into the air, golden energy bursting from his legs.

"….Nnnnooooooo!"

**Note: I hope you enjoyed that chapter. I know it was just a lot of the Avengers getting their butts whooped but it was important. This chapter really showcased just how powerful Thanos is, even without using the Infinity Gauntlet. And I hope that makes a reveal at the end of this first arc even more terrifying for you guys!**

**Dr. Strange- Pretty much same-old, same-old. He wears his modern Earth-616 attire.**

**Luke Cage- A little different but still similar to the Luke Cage you guys know and love. Wears his usual 616 clothing.**

**Songbird- She, as is the rest of the Thunderbolts, pretty much the same. A little bit of a changed back up story but that's not important now. Wears 616 attire.**

**Mach V- Same as Songbird, 616 attire.**

**Atlas- Same as Songbird, 616 attire.**

**Next: The team learns Thanos' past and his true objective! The Avengers face off against a number of their most dangerous foes! And obviously there's some more assembling. And more Nova awesomeness!  
**

**Title: Day 4: On that day the Avengers were born**


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